A 天涯社区 researcher is testing a with the hope that it could bridge an access gap for cancer survivors in rural and remote communities.
“Exercise has a lot of benefits such as improving fatigue, quality of life, muscle strength and aerobic capacity. It has an impact on a lot of health outcomes,” says , a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation. However, cancer survivors in rural and remote areas often struggle to make exercise part of their cancer care regimen, facing barriers such as lack of access to fitness facilities or exercise oncology programs.
Filion, whose doctoral research is focused on testing the efficacy of the cancer exercise app for breast cancer survivors, recently led a to explore what cancer survivors in rural and remote areas and their caregivers thought of the app, and what their thoughts were on exercise in general.
She found that none of the study’s participants were explicitly advised to exercise, and if it was suggested, the recommendations were very general. “They give you a stack of books and resources,” one participant said. Another commented, “I would appreciate more guidance on whether I’m doing too much or too little.”
The responses indicate an app could provide some of that much-needed guidance, explains Filion. Survivors also identified a few features they would find useful, including live sessions with trainers who could answer questions in real time or advise participants if they were doing an exercise incorrectly, visual demonstrations of the exercises, and programs aimed at different fitness levels.
