Preventing heart problems in childhood cancer survivors through physical activity

Childhood cancer survivors have an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, including dying prematurely. Physical activity (PA) levels influence cardiovascular risk in the general population and in childhood cancer survivors. Studies show that survivors participate less in PA than children without a history of cancer, but the reasons for this are not well understood.

A few studies have tested ‘interventions’ which use different strategies to increase PA among survivors, but these studies have severe limitations. In particular, the interventions were developed without a good understand of what influences PA in survivors, and did not involve survivors in their design.

This project aims to explore and understand what helps and hinders PA in survivors, and use this information to work with survivors and other groups to begin to develop a robust intervention to promote, support and improve survivors PA levels.

The study will involve in-depth interviews with both survivors and parents of survivors, and will explore beliefs about PA and factors that help or make it hard for survivors to engage in PA. The second stage of the project will bring together survivors, parents, healthcare professoinals and researchers to design an intervention together. These ‘co-design’ workshops will explore what is needed to improve survivors’ PA levels; how an intervention should be designed, where and how it should be implemented, and what it should include.

A prototype intervention will be generated by the study, and subsequent funding will be sought to refine and test the intervention. Long-term, the project has potential to improve survivors’ PA levels, thereby reducing the risk of future cardiovascular problems.