The group psychotherapy and home-based physical exercise (group-hope) trial in cancer survivors: Physical fitness and quality of life outcomes

Physical exercise has been shown to enhance quality of life (QOL) in cancer survivors using pretest-posttest designs and compared to usual care (i.e. no intervention). In the present study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine if exercise could improve QOL in cancer survivors beyond the known benefits of group psychotherapy (GP). We matched 22 GP classes (N = 108) on content and then randomly assigned 11 (n = 48) to GP alone and 11 (n = 60) to GP plus home-based, moderate-intensity exercise (GP + EX). Participants completed a physical fitness test and QOL measures (e.g. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy scales) at the beginning and end of GP classes (about 10 weeks). We had excellent recruitment (81%), retention (89%), and adherence (84%) rates and a modest contamination (22%) rate. Using intention-to-treat repeated measures analyses of variance, we found significant Time by Condition interactions for functional well-being, fatigue, and sum of skinfolds. We also found borderline significant interactions for physical well-being, satisfaction with life, and flexibility. All interactions favored the GP + EX condition. We conclude that a home-based, moderate intensity exercise program may improve QOL in cancer survivors beyond the benefits of GP, particularly in relation to physical and functional well-being. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.