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Are healthcare professionals being left in the lurch? The role of structural barriers and information resources to promote physical activity to cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

Although many cancer patients benefit from physical activity (PA), healthcare professionals (HCP) still do not promote it routinely. Including different groups of HCP, this study aimed to examine how structural barriers are perceived as impeding by HCP for promoting PA to cancer patients, how the perceptions of structural barriers are associated with promoting PA, and how HCP react to information resources.

Methods

A total of 287 physicians in outpatient care, 242 physicians in inpatient care, and 388 oncology nurses completed our questionnaire (paper-pencil or online). Participants assessed nine different structural barriers (on a 4-point Likert Scale) and reported their PA promotion frequency. Further, they could request three different kinds of information resources about PA in oncological settings.

Results

Across professional groups, more than 70% of HCP indicated that they promoted PA to their cancer patients often or routinely. Oncology nurses indicated that they were more impeded in promoting PA by six structural barriers than physicians (all p < .01). “Not enough time per patient” and “lack of an expert contact person” were associated with a reduced PA promotion in two professional groups (all p < .05). Information resources were requested by 69.5% of the participants: mostly physicians working in outpatient care and especially by those perceiving structural barriers.

Conclusions

Although a big proportion of HCP reported that they frequently promoted PA, our findings suggest that HCP still perceive structural barriers. The perception and influence of structural barriers differed between professional groups, pointing to the importance of profession specific guidance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Anastasia Penner, Fiona Rupprecht, Sophie Scherer, and Kim Alice Schouten for their help in the recruitment, coding procedure, and data management.

Funding

This study was part of the Momentum Project that has been supported by a grant from the German Cancer Aid (Grant Nos. 110512, 110551, and 111223).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Haussmann & Karen Steindorf

  2. Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 672, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Haussmann

  3. Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Hauptstraße 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Nadine Ungar, Martina Gabrian & Monika Sieverding

  4. Division of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and University Clinic Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 460, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Angeliki Tsiouris & Joachim Wiskemann

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  1. Alexander Haussmann
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  2. Nadine Ungar
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  3. Martina Gabrian
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  4. Angeliki Tsiouris
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  7. Karen Steindorf
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Steindorf.

Ethics declarations

The study received ethical approval by the ethics commission of the Faculty of Behavioral and Cultural Studies of the University of Heidelberg. The authors declare that they have full control of all primary data and that they agree to allow the journal to review their data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Haussmann, A., Ungar, N., Gabrian, M. et al. Are healthcare professionals being left in the lurch? The role of structural barriers and information resources to promote physical activity to cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 26, 4087–4096 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-018-4279-x

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