A Cancer Exercise Toolkit Developed Using Co-Design: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Access to exercise therapy for cancer survivors is poor. Professional development to support exercise professionals to deliver these interventions is needed. Few online resources exist for exercise professionals to address this issue. OBJECTIVE To develop and evaluate a freely available online toolkit to support exercise professionals working with cancer survivors. METHODS A two-phase, experience-based co-design approach was completed to develop and evaluate the online toolkit. The two phases were: 1) needs identification and co-design of resources and platform and 2) pilot evaluation. Four co-design workshops were conducted, transcribed and thematically analysed to identify key elements for the toolkit. For the pilot evaluation, a customised survey was distributed to exercise professionals at baseline and 3-months following launch of the online toolkit to determine its usability, utility and effectiveness on exercise professional’s knowledge, confidence and behaviour (Determinants of Implementation Behaviour Questionnaire). Results were described using medians and interquartile range and changes calculated using non-parametric tests. Website analytics described site usage after initial evaluation. RESULTS Twenty-five exercise professionals participated in co-designing eight key elements of the online Cancer Exercise Toolkit: Homepage, Getting Started, Screening and Safety, Assessment, Exercise Prescription, Education, Locations and Resources. For the pilot evaluation, 320 respondents (87% physiotherapists) from 26 countries completed the survey at baseline, with 58 exercise professionals completing follow-up surveys at 3-months. Exercise professional’s knowledge, skills and confidence in delivering exercise therapy for cancer survivors increased at 3-months from baseline (follow-up median 6 points on a 1 to 7 Likert scale, IQR 4 to 6). Most participants (76%) agreed or strongly agreed they would recommend the toolkit to colleagues. In the 6-months following the pilot evaluation, the toolkit received an average of 866 views per month. CONCLUSIONS The co-designed online Cancer Exercise Toolkit was a useful resource for exercise professionals that may increase their knowledge, skills and confidence to provide exercise therapy to cancer survivors. CLINICALTRIAL not applicable