5.1. Clinical and Research Implications
obesity, breast cancer
OBESITY, BREAST CANCER
The findings from the current study have important implications for clinicians, healthcare professionals, and researchers who prescribe exercise and develop PA interventions for breast cancer survivors, especially with obesity. When prescribing exercise/PA for this vulnerable population, clinicians need to individually assess and consider medical (i.e., BMI), preference (i.e., location), SCT (i.e., walking self-efficacy), and fitness-related (i.e., cardiorespiratory fitness) factors as this could influence participation and the likelihood of meeting PA recommendations.Although breast cancer survivors with obesity were more likely to prefer to engage in exercise at a facility (versus at home or no preference), potential barriers (e.g., financial, lack of accessibility) may arise for those without facility access. Therefore, distance-delivered interventions (e.g., mHealth, telephone, virtual) could serve as alternative options for delivering such programs. As for walking self-efficacy, exercise/PA programs can target and improve this component through incorporating individual behavior change techniques (e.g., goal setting, self-monitoring, and implementing solutions) [Taken as a whole, future research efforts need to be aimed at gaining a nuanced understanding regarding specific preferences (e.g., Why is facility more preferred by survivors with obesity?) through a qualitative approach. Moreover, future research directions should include assessing whether tailoring interventions and programs to individual health-related factors and preferences increases active living among this population.