1. Introduction
multimorbidity, fatigue, breast cancer, anxiety, cancer, cancer survivors, distress and, pain, cognitive impairments, Cancer
RECRUITMENT, BREAST CANCER, CANCER, RECRUITMENT, CANCER
Purpose: Cancer survivors can experience symptoms such as fatigue, pain and distress that persist for many months following treatment. These enduring symptoms often impact on participation in self-care activities, returning to school and/or work, and leisure and social activities. Self-management support is increasingly recognised as a core aspect of cancer survivorship care to reduce the impact of persistent symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a group-based self-management intervention, OptiMal, to improve the physical and psychological health of cancer survivors. OptiMal is a six-week intervention comprising weekly sessions on fatigue, stress and physical activity, diet and effective communication strategies. Methods: A feasibility randomised control trial was undertaken. Individuals up to two years after cancer treatment were randomised to OptiMal or usual care. Feasibility was examined through recruitment and retention metrics. Potential effectiveness was tested through patient-reported outcomes collected at baseline and three months post-intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse study data. Results: Recruitment for this study was 32.5% (80/246 eligible individuals) with 77.5% retention at three-month follow-up (82.5% for intervention group and 72.5% for control group). Of those who attended the intervention, 19 (73%) attended all OptiMal sessions, indicating high adherence to the intervention. The majority of participants had breast cancer and were between 12 and 24 months post-treatment. The intervention group (n = 29) had statistically significant greater improvements in anxiety (Cancer survival rates are increasing globally due to early diagnosis and effective cancer treatments [Self-management interventions for cancer survivors address a wide range of commonly experienced post-treatment difficulties such as fatigue, reduced fitness, diet, anxiety, distress and cognitive impairments. Systematic reviews of self-management interventions report mixed findings on their outcomes. For example, Boland et al. [An occupational-therapy-led self-management intervention, OptiMal, which is based on principles of effective self-management, has been developed for people with multimorbidity [Due to the chronic nature of cancer-related symptoms, it is recommended that existing self-management interventions developed for individuals with chronic conditions be evaluated for cancer survivors [