Demonstration and manifestation of self-determination and illness resistance—A qualitative study of long-term maintenance of physical activity in posttreatment cancer survivors
Menée au Danemark auprès de 23 participants, cette étude qualitative analyse les expériences de vie et l'activité physique de survivants à long terme de cancer
Objective The aim of this study was to describe posttreatment cancer survivors' lived experience of long-term maintenance of physical activity (PA). Methods A qualitative, salutogenetic-oriented study was conducted based on four audiotaped, semistructured focus group interviews. Interviewee selection was carried out through purposeful sampling. Twenty-three cancer survivors (17 women and 6 men; median age 50 years, range 29–70) who were physically inactive prior to their diagnosis but who had been exercising regularly for a minimum of 18 months posttreatment participated in the study. The participants were recruited from The Copenhagen PACT Study that evaluated the effect of a one-year rehabilitation program (supervised exercise [weekly], expert lectures [trimonthly], in-group coaching [bimonthly] and individual coaching [3 × 1 h]). Data were analyzed by use of systematic condensation analysis inspired by Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological methodology (see Sketch of a psychological phenomenological method, in: Giorgi A (ed.), Phenomenology and Psychological Research , Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, 1985). Results The analysis revealed five categories, which were summarized into an overall sentence describing the essence of long-term PA maintenance in cancer survivors: demonstration and manifestation of self - determination and illness resistance . In sum, the participants described regular PA as a prerequisite for feeling and staying well and preserving and pursuing own potentials whereby PA maintenance becomes a goal in itself. Conclusions This study indicates that cancer survivors' continued motivation for PA may be dependent on the fulfillment of a personal and conscious experience of being in the process of creating and living a comprehensible and meaningful life. Future theory-based interventions to encourage PA maintenance in cancer survivors could potentially benefit by integration of humanistic and existential psychology in addition to social cognitive theory and theory of planned behavior.