Telehealth-Delivered Exercise to Promote Health after Gynecological Cancer Therapy: A Randomized Waitlist-Controlled Trial

ABSTRACT Context Gynecological cancer treatment can detrimentally affect physical and mental well-being by compromising physical, functional, and emotional quality of life, despite the eradication of the tumor, and can limit return to pretreatment health and function. Exercise after treatment might offset these outcomes and enhance overall health and quality of life, yet women treated for gynecological cancer remain largely inactive, with a significant proportion failing to meet recommended physical activity guidelines. Structured, supervised exercise in this cohort is challenging, particularly for women who live in rural and remote areas. Telehealth-delivered supervised exercise interventions, which are as clinically effective as face-to-face approaches, allow convenient, flexible, and affordable participation in exercise. Due to a paucity of gynecological-cancer-specific telehealth intervention research, a greater understanding of the practicality and feasibility of exercise and physical outcome assessments conducted via telehealth is needed. Objective This study aimed to explore the feasibility of a telehealth exercise intervention for women treated for gynecological cancer. Design This is a delayed intervention randomized control trial with participants randomly allocated to either the exercise intervention or delayed intervention, with stratification for stage of disease. Setting The intervention involves 12 wk of supervised exercise, including aerobic, resistance, and impact exercises, with a focus on behavioral change techniques via telehealth. Secondary outcomes include health-related quality of life, exercise self-efficacy, physical function, body composition, safety, physical activity levels, and healthcare usage. Participants Participants (target sample size: n = 50) include women who are 1 month to 5 yr after primary treatment for gynecological cancer. Main Outcome Measures Feasibility as measured by the Acceptance, Appropriateness and Feasibility of Intervention Measure questionnaire is the main outcome. Conclusion The Enhancing Treatment Outcomes after Gynaecological Cancer for All trial was designed to address the challenges and bridge the gap in access to exercise support for Australian women treated for gynecological cancer, irrespective of their place of residence. This trial will contribute to the overall advancement of gynecological cancer treatment and the exercise field.