The experiences and perceptions of female breast cancer patients regarding weight management during and after treatment for oestrogen-receptor positive disease: a qualitative study

SAXTON, J.M., PICKERING, K., WANE, S., CRANK, Helen, ANDERSON, A.S., CAIN, H., COHEN, J., COPELAND, Robert, GRAY, J., HARGREAVES, J., MCNALLY, R.J.Q. and WILSON, C. (2022). The experiences and perceptions of female breast cancer patients regarding weight management during and after treatment for oestrogen-receptor positive disease: a qualitative study. BMC Cancer, 22 (1): 1189.

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Official URL: https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11...
Open Access URL: https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10... (Published version)
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-022-10238-7

Abstract

Background: Weight gain is commonly observed during and after breast cancer treatment and is associated with poorer survival outcomes, notably in women with oestrogen-receptor positive disease. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences and perceptions of oestrogen-receptor positive (ER +) female breast cancer patients (BCPs) regarding weight management behaviours during and after treatment. Secondly, to gain insight into the experiences of healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding the provision of weight management advice to patients undergoing treatment. Methods: Four focus groups involving 16 BCPs having a median (range) age of 51 (35–70 y) and three focus groups involving 21 HCPs aged 46 (29–62) were held at a university campus, local cancer support centre or clinical site. Data were analysed using Framework analysis. Results: Four overarching themes (and 10 subthemes) were identified: (1) Treatment; (2) Support for lifestyle behaviour change; (3) Information availability for BCPs; (4) Knowledge of current evidence amongst HCPs. The physical and psychological consequences of treatment influenced motivation for weight management amongst BCPs. Social support for health promoting behaviours was viewed as important but was conflicting, requiring context-specific considerations. BCPs said they would have welcomed access to credible information (guided by HCPs) about the potential detrimental health effects of excess body weight and weight gain, together with advice on weight management via healthy eating and physical activity. HCPs felt that they had insufficient knowledge of public health dietary and physical activity recommendations or evidence-based interventions to confidently offer such advice. HCPs expressed concern that raising weight management issues would exacerbate distress or invoke feelings of guilt amongst BCPs, and cited time pressures on patient consultations as additional barriers to providing weight management support. Conclusion: The study yielded novel insights into factors influencing weight management behaviours amongst overweight ER + BCPs. The results suggest that evidence-based information and support, which addresses key physical and psychological challenges to physical activity and dietary behaviours, offers the best route to sustainable weight management in this population.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: ** From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ** Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements: Not applicable. **Journal IDs: eissn 1471-2407 **Article IDs: publisher-id: s12885-022-10238-7; manuscript: 10238 **History: collection 12-2022; online 18-11-2022; published 18-11-2022; accepted 26-10-2022; registration 26-10-2022; submitted 08-07-2022
Uncontrolled Keywords: Research, Breast Cancer, Hormone-positive, Weight management, Barriers and facilitators
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-022-10238-7
SWORD Depositor: Colin Knott
Depositing User: Colin Knott
Date Deposited: 21 Nov 2022 16:12
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2023 09:02
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31060

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