Evaluation of a Multidisciplinary Health Promotion Program for Individuals with Cancer

Purpose: With the increased focus on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and wellness for individuals with cancer, formal health promotion programs have become an integral part of the comprehensive services promoted in many cancer care centers.

Research Question: For individuals living with cancer, does participation in a structured health promotion program, that incorporates integrative health coaching (IHC) with nutrition and physical activity support, result in improved health-related quality of life (HRQOL)?

Setting/Sample: A community hospital-based cancer center in central Virginia. A convenience sample of eight patients was enrolled in the health promotion program, and six completed all elements within the study time frame. Participants varied along the treatment trajectory, with a range of primary malignancies, mostly solid tumors.

Design/Methods: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was used to address the impact of an existing health promotion program on HRQOL. Participants were enrolled from September – December 2017, and completed the multidisciplinary components of the program over a period of 9-14 weeks.

Measures: Demographics, tumor and treatment-specific information, and anthropometric measures were collected at time of enrollment, with anthropometric measures again collected at program completion. The RAND SF-36 was used to assess HRQOL indices at baseline and at completion of the program.

Findings: Six participants completed the program, and demonstrated near-statistical significance in BMI reduction (–0.7 kg/m2, p = .062) and improvement in the domain of physical functioning (+10.9 points, p = .062). Post-intervention scores were improved over baseline in seven of the eight HRQOL domains.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that the program may have modest effect on improving HRQOL, especially within the domain of physical functioning. Several suggestions are made for program improvement.