Do chronic disease and running background influence the motivation for breast cancer survivors to run?

To try to understand the reasons why women who have overcome breast cancer run, and to consider the influence that health, running background and age have on their motivation for running. A total of 152 women amateur runners, all of them cancer survivors, completed an online survey comprised of 56 items from the motivations of marathoners’ scales (MOMS). Moreover, athletes were asked about whether they were suffering from any another chronic disease (yes, no), and about their running history (runner prior to breast cancer or not). The results showed that the main motives for these athletes to run are health-related, with the highest scores being evidenced in physical health dimensions. Our results also showed that those women who ran prior to detection of the disease obtained higher scores in five out of nine MOMS dimensions than those who reported not having run before being diagnosed with the disease. This study showed that breast cancer survivors place great importance on health motives with regard to running, and that running prior to detection of the disease influenced the motivation of the female runners.