Assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary health behavior outcomes of a community-based virtual group health coaching for cancer survivors program

Purpose The primary purpose was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a group health coaching (GHC) program with cancer patients and survivors; secondarily, to determine the preliminary effects of GHC on several behavioral lifestyle factors. Methods GHC was provided to people diagnosed with cancer via videoconference by trained health coaches across six GHC sessions over a 3-month period. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Data on recruitment, attrition, attendance, fidelity, retention, safety, and barriers and facilitators to implementation were assessed. Participant-reported outcomes collected via surveys included physical activity, eating habits, perceived stress, anxiety, depression, sleep, and quality of life, followed by post-program focus groups and in-depth interviews. Survey results were analyzed using repeated measures multilevel modeling. Qualitative data was analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results Overall, 26 participants with a variety of cancer types attended an average of 74% of coaching sessions. The intervention was feasible to implement and found acceptable by participants and health coaches. Over the course of the intervention, there was a moderate increase in total weekly physical activity minutes (baseline = 365.25, follow-up = 510.30, p = 0.032, d = 0.50), and a small increase in weekly moderate-vigorous physical activity frequency (baseline = 4.07 bouts, follow-up = 5.44 bouts, p = 0.045, d = 0.39). Additionally, a moderate increase was found in functional well-being (baseline = 16.30, follow-up = 18.93, p < 0.001, d = 0.50). Conclusions and implications GHC may be a feasible and acceptable way to promote behavior change for physical activity in cancer patients and survivors, reducing cancer burden and enhancing functional well-being.