Can Physical Activity and Healthy Diet Help Long-Term Cancer Survivors Manage Their Fear of Recurrence?

Objective: Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) adversely affects quality of life, but health behaviors such as physical activity (PA) and fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) may help alleviate FCR for some survivors. This cross-sectional study tested the common-sense model (CSM) of FCR by investigating associations between constructs from the CSM (perceived illness consequences, control over health, and timeline), and survivors' health behaviors, health self-efficacy, and FCR. Methods: Using wave 3 data from the American Cancer Society Longitudinal Study of Cancer Survivorship-I, path analyses were conducted among mixed-cancer participants (N = 2,337) who were on average 8.8 mean years post-diagnosis. Results: A final good fitting model [χ 2 (5, N = 2,337) = 38.12, p < 0.001; SRMR = 0.02; CFI = 0.99; RMSEA = 0.05] indicated that perceiving fewer illness consequences, and greater control over one's health, were directly associated with higher PA (ß = 0.15 and -0.24, p < 0.01, respectively) and higher health self-efficacy (ß = 0.24, -0.38, p < 0.01, respectively). Timeline (i.e., perceiving cancer as chronic) was directly associated with lower health self-efficacy (ß = -0.15, p < 0.01) and higher FCR (ß = 0.51, p < 0.01). Both greater PA and FVI were directly associated with higher health self-efficacy (ß = 0.10 and 0.11, p < 0.01, respectively) which in turn showed a direct association with lower FCR (ß = -0.15, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Increasing survivors' sense of control over health, decreasing perceived chronicity of the illness, and mitigating its consequences may increase their health behaviors and health self-efficacy, which in turn could decrease their FCR. Longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Smoking versus quitting and fear of cancer recurrence 9 years after diagnosis in the American Cancer Society's Longitudinal Study of Cancer Survivors-I (SCS-I).

BACKGROUND: Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) adversely affects quality of life. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of recurrence and may exacerbate FCR among survivors who smoke. FCR also may motivate quitting, but research on whether quitting reduces long-term survivors' FCR is lacking. Among long-term survivors of various cancers, the authors investigated relationships between quitting (vs smoking) and FCR, controlling for sociodemographic, cancer-related, and health-related variables. METHODS: Data from the American Cancer Society's Longitudinal Study of Cancer Survivors-I were used in generalized estimating equations to compare FCR at 3 waves (T1-T3) after diagnosis between 2 groups; survivors who reported current smoking (n = 196) approximately 9 years after diagnosis (at T3) or who, based on T3 recall of quitting age, had quit smoking after diagnosis (n = 97). T3 cross-sectional analyses among current smokers examined associations of FCR with smoking level and intentions of quitting. RESULTS: A significant smoking status × time interaction (P = .003) indicated that only quitters experienced decreases in FCR from T1 to T3 (P = .007). At T3, FCR was significantly lower among quitters than among current smokers (P = .05), and current smokers reported that FCR caused more functioning impairments (eg, disruption of relationships, everyday activities, mood) than quitters (P = .001). Cross-sectional analyses (T3) among smokers found that heavier smoking predicted less attempts to cope with FCR (P = .04) and that reassurance behaviors (eg, self-examination for cancer) predicted stronger quitting intentions (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Quitting smoking lowers FCR, and FCR may disrupt functioning among continuing smokers. Interventions for FCR should be multimodal and should treat both psychological distress and health-related behaviors such as smoking.

The relationship between fear of cancer recurrence and health behaviors: A nationwide longitudinal study of cancer survivors.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and 2 health behaviors, physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake, from early to long-term survivorship in a large cohort of mixed cancer survivors. METHOD: Group-based trajectory analyses and repeated measures analysis of variance were conducted on data collected in the American Cancer Society's Studies of Cancer Survivorship-I. Two thousand three hundred thirty-seven survivors of 10 cancers completed the survey at 3 time points (M = 1.3, 2.2, and 8.8 years postdiagnosis). RESULTS: The current study found 3 FCR trajectories clustering cancer survivors by FCR severity: low (33.6%), moderate (58.1%), and high (8.3%). FCR significantly decreased over time and remained distinct for each trajectory group. Patient characteristics prevalent in the high FCR group were being female, of younger age, Hispanic ethnicity, having advanced cancer stage (II to III) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and low adherence to physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake recommendations. The high FCR group also reported significantly fewer of these health behaviors compared with the other groups, albeit the effect size was small. CONCLUSIONS: Across the survivorship trajectory, FCR severity decreased but remained distinct for the 3 trajectory groups. Future investigations should inquire about the specific needs of each FCR group to subsequently develop targeted interventions. A weak association between FCR and health behaviors was found, with individuals in the high FCR group reporting less health behaviors. Future research should assess the direction of this relationship over time to inform intervention targets within this subgroup. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

When fear of cancer recurrence becomes a clinical issue: a qualitative analysis of features associated with clinical fear of cancer recurrence.

PURPOSE: Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is a common experience for cancer survivors. However, it remains unclear what characteristics differentiate non-clinical from clinical levels of FCR. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential hallmarks of clinical FCR. METHODS: A convenience sample of 40 participants (n = 19 female) was drawn from another study (Lebel et al. in Qual Life Res 25:311-321. doi: 10.1007/s11136-015-1088-2 , 2016). The semi-structured interview for fear of cancer recurrence (Simard and Savard in J Cancer Surviv 9:481-491. doi: 10.1007/s11764-015-0424-4 , 2015) was used to identify participants with non-clinical and clinical FCR and qualitative analysis of these interviews was performed. RESULTS: Individuals with clinical FCR reported the following features: death-related thoughts, feeling alone, belief that the cancer would return, experiencing intolerance of uncertainty, having cancer-related thoughts and imagery that were difficult to control, daily and recurrent, lasted 30 minutes or more, increased over time, caused distress and impacted their daily life. Triggers of FCR and coping strategies did not appear to be features of clinical FCR as they were reported by participants with a range of FCR scores. CONCLUSIONS: While features of clinical FCR found in this analysis such as intrusive thoughts, distress and impact on functioning confirmed previous FCR research, other features spontaneously emerged from the interviews including "death-related thoughts," "feeling alone," and "belief that the cancer will return." The participants' descriptions of cancer-specific fear and worry suggest that FCR is a distinct phenomenon related to cancer survivorship, despite similarities with psychological disorders (e.g., Anxiety Disorders). Future research investigating the construct of FCR, and the distinguishing features of clinical FCR across a range of cancer types and gender is required.