Personalised Exercise Rehabilitation for Cancer Survivorship

There is strong evidence that exercise can help improve physical and mental wellbeing after treatment for cancer. However, at present, people with cancer in Ireland are not given the opportunity to have an individual assessment of their physical and psychological wellbeing as part of standard care and are not routinely prescribed exercise-based rehabilitation. The researchers will run and evaluate a system to i. assess physical and psychological wellbeing of people who have completed cancer treatment, ii. apply a rehabilitation triage system, based on findings of the assessment, iii. refer participants to one of three rehabilitation pathways, as per outcome of the triage process. Rehabilitation pathways are as follows: 1. Participants who are currently active and have no cancer-specific impairments will receive advice from the physiotherapist on maintaining their current levels of activity. 2. Participants who are not active and have no cancer-specific impairments will be referred to a suitable community-based exercise programme. This programme must contain both resistance and aerobic training and should have some level of supervision from a fitness professional. 3. Participants who are not active and have ongoing cancer-specific impairments will be referred to an oncology specialist physiotherapist, funded through this work, at St James's Hospital for assessment and treatment. All participants will be encouraged to visit www.cancerrehabilitation.ie for information through out the study. Participants will be reassessed 12 weeks after the initial assessment. The implementation of this system will be evaluated using the RE-AIM framework.

Sex

All

Minimum age

18 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients will be eligible to participate if they:

  1. Were diagnosed with cancer at St James's Hospital since March 2020
  2. Have completed adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy
  3. Are at least 6 weeks post-surgery
  4. Do not show signs of recurrent or metastatic disease at the time of enrolment
  5. Are over the age of 18 years

     Exclusion Criteria:

     Anyone who is unable to provide informed consent Any person with known or signs or symptoms suggestive of cardiovascular, metabolic or renal disease will require medical clearance from a physiotherapist or medical professional prior to participation, based on criteria outlined in the Safety Reference Guide to support the safe delivery of exercise services to people with cancer by Santa Mina et al. (2018). Preparticipation screening will be completed in accordance with the American College of Sports Medicine Preparticipation health screening recommendations.

• DERIVEDBrennan L, Kennedy M, Grehan S, Connolly H, Sheill G, Donohoe CL, Guinan E. Patient experiences of participating in a cancer rehabilitation triage and referral system in the Irish healthcare system. J Cancer Surviv. 2025 Mar 27. doi: 10.1007/s11764-025-01785-6. Online ahead of print. PMID 40146479
• DERIVEDBrennan L, Sheill G, Collier S, Browne P, Donohoe C, Guinan E. Personalised exercise rehabilitation in cancer survivorship: Findings from a triage and referral feasibility study. J Cancer Surviv. 2026 Apr;20(2):752-765. doi: 10.1007/s11764-024-01684-2. Epub 2024 Nov 12. PMID 39528780
• DERIVEDBrennan L, Sheill G, Collier S, Browne P, Donohoe CL, O'Neill L, Hussey J, Guinan EM. Personalised exercise rehabilitation in cancer survivorship: the percs triage and referral system study protocol. BMC Cancer. 2024 Apr 23;24(1):517. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12266-x. PMID 38654198