The Feasibility of Physical Activity Interventions During the Intense Treatment Phase for Children and Adolescents with Cancer: A Systematic Review

Abstract

There is preliminary evidence that physical activity interventions are feasible, in that they are acceptable, safe and potentially beneficial for children with cancer but more work needs to be done to understand the most effective ways to implement these types of programmes.

Assessment of physical function in children with cancer: A systematic review

“…For example, clinicians have no objective way of knowing whether their patient's physical function has improved, maintained or deteriorated as a result of an intervention. Although evidence suggests physical activity interventions are safe and feasible to administer in acute paediatric oncology settings, their effectiveness is unknown . Increasing our knowledge of measurement properties of assessment tools used may improve our understanding of the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of interventions.…”

Psychosocial determinants of physical activity and dietary behaviors in adolescents and young adults with cancer and survivors

“…However, healthcare providers have been reluctant to recommend lifestyle interventions during the intensive phases of treatment because of the burden of treatment itself and concerns about safety and acceptability. Recent evidence has demonstrated the feasibility of exercise‐based interventions during the intensive phase of treatment . Additional data are needed on the feasibility of lifestyle change during different treatment phases .…”

“…Inclusion criteria were any adolescent or young adult (aged [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] with a current diagnosis of cancer or a survivor of cancer. Utiliz-ing a convenience sample, all eligible participants were approached about participation in the study.…”

Physical activity for children undergoing acute cancer treatment: A qualitative study of parental perspectives

“…Early literature on physical activity interventions for children during acute cancer treatment focused on exercise prescription strategies that address physical impairments 9,56 . More recently, promising examples of complex intervention design have emerged in the acute pediatric cancer setting, but more work needs to be done to ensure the strategies used are theoretically informed, feasible, and address factors beyond the child and family unit 18,43,57 .…”

“…There is growing evidence to support the feasibility and effectiveness of physical activity interventions in the acute treatment setting 9‐11 . Despite this, high dropout rates and poor compliance are commonly reported as limiting factors 10,12‐15 .…”