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A scoping review of studies exploring physical activity among adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer
Author(s) -
Brunet Jennifer,
Wurz Amanda,
Shallwani Shirin M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.4743
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , inclusion (mineral) , intervention (counseling) , physical activity , descriptive statistics , quality of life (healthcare) , psychology , gerontology , descriptive research , clinical psychology , medicine , physical therapy , social psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , statistics , mathematics
Objective Physical activity can improve health, functional capacity, and quality of life among children and adults diagnosed with cancer. Physical activity may also offer important benefits to adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer (AYAs). We conducted a scoping review to: determine the extent, range, and nature of published studies on physical activity among AYAs; identify knowledge gaps; and provide directions for future research. Methods We searched 4 electronic databases for published studies. Two authors independently scanned the titles, abstracts, and full‐texts against inclusion criteria: original research with humans, published in an English‐language peer‐reviewed journal, ≥50% of participants were diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 and 39 years, and included at least 1 measure of physical activity behavior. Data were extracted from studies meeting these criteria and subsequently summarized narratively. Results Our search yielded 4729 articles; 32 met inclusion criteria. These included 18 cross‐sectional and 4 longitudinal studies that explored descriptive (ie, sociodemographic or medical), physical, personal/psychological, social, other health behaviors, and/or other factors as antecedents or correlates of physical activity. The remaining 10 were intervention studies that focused on changing physical activity behavior or on testing the effects of physical activity. Conclusions We can conclude that physical activity is not well researched among AYAs. More high‐quality research adopting longitudinal or intervention study designs that incorporate a range of descriptive, physical, personal/psychological, social, and environmental measures are warranted to better inform the development of behavior change interventions as well as to establish the benefits of physical activity for AYAs.