Interdisciplinary Cancer Rehabilitation eHealth Impact on Quality of Life

Research Objectives: Investigate the impact of personalized eHealth physical and occupational therapy on quality of life (QOL) in individuals with cancer-related fatigue (CRF).

Design: One-way repeated measure

Setting: Online

Participants: 18-70 years old, diagnosed with cancer ≥ 5 years, received/receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, fatigue ≥4 on 0-10 scale using the One-item Fatigue Scale, access to mobile device or computer. Those with metastatic cancer, chronic fatigue, were non-English speaking, or unable to follow instructions, were excluded

Interventions: Participants completed an 8-week interdisciplinary intervention: moderate exercise (aerobic and strengthening) based on the results of the 30-second sit to stand test and 6-Minute Walk test (3x per week asynchronously), Four interactive educational modules (What is CRF? Rest and Relaxation, Nutrition and Exercise), and weekly Zoom® PT exercise consultation and OT-Problem-Solving sessions focused on the impaired occupations identified within the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure

Main Outcome Measures: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F)

Results: Thirteen individuals, mean age 47 (29-67) with a variety of cancers and stages participated (85% completed all visits). Participants had moderate baseline fatigue (6/10); 85% had chemotherapy, 85% radiation therapy, and 77% underwent surgical treatment for cancer. FACT-G scores significantly increased (p < 0.001) from 66.08 (SD 14.26) to 80.06 (SD 13.94) with an effect size of 1.53 (CI .96-2.8). FACIT Fatigue subscale scores significantly increased (p < 0.01) from 24.92 (SD 7.59) to 36.62 (SD 7.19) with an effect size is 1.78 (CI .90-2.64). The change in both scales exceeded the minimally important difference of 8 points and 3 points, respectively.

Conclusions: Use of a personalized eHealth PT and OT intervention aimed at improving QOL in those with CRF resulted in improvement measured by the FACT-G and FACIT-F. Use of eHealth appears to be an effective method to deliver exercise, education, and personalized problem-solving intervention in this population with significant improvements in QOL. Limitations include a small sample size in this ongoing study as well as variability of cancer diagnoses, making broad generalization difficult.

Author(s) Disclosures: Nothing to disclose