Experiences of an Exercise Program: Perspectives from Breast Cancer Survivors

Authors

Yvonne Anisimowicz, University of New BrunswickFollow
Lauren Rudy, University of New BrunswickFollow
Ryan Hamilton, University of New BrunswickFollow
Erin McGowan, Memorial University of NewfoundlandFollow
Travis Saunders, University of Prince Edward IslandFollow
Melanie Keats, Dalhousie UniversityFollow
Scott Grandy, Dalhousie UniversityFollow
Courtni Ruth-Anne Soucy, The University of New BrunswickFollow
Danielle Bouchard, University New BrunswickFollow

Abstract

Few studies have examined how breast cancer survivors experience an individually tailored group exercise program designed to help mitigate physical and psychosocial challenges and improve health outcomes. This research used qualitative interviews to provide insight into what motivates breast cancer survivors to join an exercise program, what they hope to gain from exercise programs, the barriers they experience to participation, and their overall satisfaction with the program. Thirty-three breast cancer survivors from Atlantic Canada completed semi-structured, qualitative interviews following the completion of a twelve-week supervised exercise program, and thematic analysis was applied to transcripts of the interviews. Our findings suggest of the participants generally enrolled in the program, in hopes of increasing energy levels and muscular strength, most reported increases in both outcomes by the end of the program, and obstacles to participation included fatigue, poor physical health, and access challenges.

Keywords

exercise, physical activity, survivorship, intervention, breast cancer, quality of life, qualitative research

Author Bio(s)

Yvonne Anisimowicz is a Ph.D. student in Experimental Psychology at the University of New Brunswick. Please address correspondence to y.anisimowicz@unb.ca.

Lauren Rudy is a Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at the University of New Brunswick. Please address correspondence to lrudy@unb.ca.

Dr. Ryan Hamilton is an associate professor of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick. Please address correspondence to rhamilto@unb.ca.

Dr. Erin McGowan is an associate professor in the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation at Memorial University. Please address correspondence to emcgowan@mun.ca.

Dr. Travis Saunders is an associate professor of Applied Human Science at the University of Prince Edward Island. Please address correspondence to trsaunders@upei.ca.

Dr. Melanie Keats is a professor in the School of Health and Human Performance (Division of Kinesiology) at Dalhousie University. Please address correspondence to Melanie.Keats@Dal.Ca.

Dr. Scott Grandy is an associate professor in the School of Health and Human Performance (Division of Kinesiology) and Pharmacology at Dalhousie University. Please address correspondence to Scott.Grandy@Dal.Ca.

Courtni Soucy is an alumna of the University of New Brunswick with a master’s degree in Kinesiology. Please address correspondence to courtni.soucy@unb.ca.

Dr. Danielle R. Bouchard is an associate professor in the faculty of Kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick. Please address correspondence to dboucha1@unb.ca.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of our program facilitators, as well as our participants, for their hard-work, cooperation and team spirit. We would also like to thank Jennifer McWilliams for help structuring the original draft of the manuscript.

Publication Date

8-9-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4824

Recommended APA Citation

Anisimowicz, Y., Rudy, L., Hamilton, R., McGowan, E., Saunders, T., Keats, M., Grandy, S., Soucy, C. R., & Bouchard, D. (2021). Experiences of an Exercise Program: Perspectives from Breast Cancer Survivors. The Qualitative Report, 26(8), 2479-2501. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4824

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8565-2651