Abstract
Purpose
Health professionals are an important source of information for teenage and young adult (TYA) cancer patients. However, little is known about health professionals’ provision of lifestyle advice to young people with cancer who are in their care.
Methods
An online survey was distributed to health professionals within the UK who identified themselves as working with TYA cancer patients. Health professional awareness of lifestyle guidance, provision of lifestyle advice to young people and views on lifestyle information format and delivery were explored.
Results
Ninety-five health professionals (44% nurses; 28% allied health professionals; 17% physicians) completed the survey. The majority (72%) of respondents were aware of some lifestyle guidance for cancer patients. However, less than half of TYA health professionals (46%) were able to successfully recall the source of the guidelines and less than a third reported proving specific advice to the majority of their patients on weight management, smoking, alcohol consumption and sun safety. Many health professionals (38%) felt that they were not the right person to provide advice and cited lack of resources as a key barrier to advice provision. The majority (95%) reported being interested in a resource containing relevant lifestyle information that could be given to young people with cancer.
Conclusions
TYA health professionals’ awareness of lifestyle guidance and provision of advice regarding health behaviour is sub-optimal. Clear and comprehensive guidance written specifically for TYA health professionals could overcome the reported barriers and improve professionals’ confidence in addressing and providing advice on lifestyle to young people with cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Braam KI et al (2013) Physical exercise training interventions for children and young adults during and after treatment for childhood cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (4):Cd008796. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008796.pub3
Stolley MR, Restrepo J, Sharp LK (2010) Diet and physical activity in childhood cancer survivors: a review of the literature. Ann Behav Med 39(3):232–249
Gilliam MB, Schwebel DC (2013) Physical activity in child and adolescent cancer survivors: a review. Health Psychol Rev 7(1):92–110
Clarke S-A, Eiser C (2007) Health behaviours in childhood cancer survivors: a systematic review. Eur J Cancer 43(9):1373–1384
Orgel E et al (2014) Impact on survival and toxicity by duration of weight extremes during treatment for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. J Clin Oncol 32(13):1331–1337
Wilson CL et al (2016) Modifiable factors associated with aging phenotypes among adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J Clin Oncol 34(21):2509–2515
Wurz A, Brunet J (2015) Promoting physical activity in adolescent cancer survivors. Univ Ottawa J Med (UOJM) 5(1):29
Daniel CL et al (2015) Needs and lifestyle challenges of adolescents and young adults with cancer: summary of an Institute of Medicine and Livestrong Foundation workshop. Clin J Oncol Nurs 19(6):675–681
Barnes M et al (2016) Pre-habilitation-promoting exercise in adolescent and young adult cancer survivors for improving lifelong health—a narrative review. Cancer Res Front 2(1):22–32
Pugh G, Hough R, Gravestock HL, Jackson S, Fisher A (2017) The health behaviour information needs and preferences of teenage and young adult cancer survivors. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol 6(2):318–326
Hansen J et al (2014) Eating behaviour and BMI in adolescent survivors of brain tumor and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J Pediatr Oncol Nurs 31(1):9
Zhang FF et al (2015) Comparison of childhood cancer survivors’ nutritional intake with US dietary guidelines. Pediatr Blood Cancer 62(8):1461–1467
Tylavsky FA et al (2010) Nutritional intake of long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: evidence for bone health interventional opportunities. Pediatr Blood Cancer 55(7):1362–1369
Marjerrison S, Hendershot E, Empringham B, Nathan PC (2016) Smoking, binge drinking, and drug use among childhood cancer survivors: a meta-analysis. Pediatr Blood Cancer 63(7):1254–1263
Jones L et al (2004) Effects of an oncologist’s recommendation to exercise on self-reported exercise behavior in newly diagnosed breast cancer survivors: a single-blind, randomized controlled trial. Ann Behav Med 28(2):105–113
Fisher A et al (2015) Recall of physical activity advice was associated with higher levels of physical activity in colorectal cancer patients. BMJ Open 5(4). doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006853
Zebrack B (2008) Information and service needs for young adult cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer 17(4):349–357
Pugh, G., et al., The provision of health behaviour information to teenage and young adult cancer survivors. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. In Press
Michel G et al (2009) Follow-up care after childhood cancer: survivors’ expectations and preferences for care. Eur J Cancer 45(9):1616–1623
Williams K et al (2015) Health professionals’ provision of lifestyle advice in the oncology context in the United Kingdom. Eur J Cancer Care 24(4):522–530
O’Hanlon É, Kennedy N (2014) Exercise in cancer care in Ireland: a survey of oncology nurses and physiotherapists. Eur J Cancer Care 23(5):630–639
Spellman C, Craike M, Livingston PM (2014) Knowledge, attitudes and practices of clinicians in promoting physical activity to prostate cancer survivors. Health Educ J 73(5):566–575
Anderson VA et al (2001) Development of executive functions through late childhood and adolescence in an Australian sample. Dev Neuropsychol 20(1):385–406
Carretier J et al (2016) A review of health behaviors in childhood and adolescent cancer survivors: toward prevention of second primary cancer. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol 5(2):78–90
Elo, S. and H.Kyngäs (2008). The qualitative content analysis process: Journal of Advanced Nursing 62(1): 107 - 115
Pugh G et al (2016) Health behavior change interventions for teenage and young adult cancer survivors: a systematic review. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol 5(2):91–105
Armenian SH et al (2015) Recommendations for cardiomyopathy surveillance for survivors of childhood cancer: a report from the International Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Guideline Harmonization Group. Lancet Oncol 16(3):e123–e136
Spreafico F et al (2014) Should we encourage exercise and sports in children and adolescents with cancer? Pediatr Blood Cancer 61(11):2125–2125
Kumar M et al (2015) Sports participation in children and adolescents with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Pediatr Blood Cancer 62(12):2223–2225
Klosky J et al (2007) Emerging issues in smoking among adolescent and adult cancer survivors. Cancer 110(11):2408–2419
Daley A et al (2008) What advice are oncologists and surgeons in the United Kingdom giving to breast cancer patients about physical activity? Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 5(1):46
Murnane A et al (2015) Adolescents and young adult cancer survivors: exercise habits, quality of life and physical activity preferences. Support Care Cancer 23(2):501–510
Rabin C et al (2013) Intervention format and delivery preferences among young adult cancer survivors. Int J Behav Med 20(2):304–310
Dubnov-Raz G et al (2015) Changes in fitness are associated with changes in body composition and bone health in children after cancer. Acta Paediatr 104(10):1055–1061
Siegel R, Lockhart M, Kist C (2015) Reducing lifestyle risk in childhood cancer survivors. Acta Paediatr 104(10):969–970
Brown MC et al (2015) The views of European clinicians on guidelines for long-term follow-up of childhood cancer survivors. Pediatr Blood Cancer 62(2):322–328
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by an IMPACT Award co-funded by University College London and CLIC Sargent awarded to Gemma Pugh.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
This study was approved by the University College London Ethics Committee (reference 4456/001).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(PDF 460 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pugh, G., Hough, R., Gravestock, H. et al. Lifestyle advice provision to teenage and young adult cancer patients: the perspective of health professionals in the UK. Support Care Cancer 25, 3823–3832 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3814-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3814-5