Abstract
PURPOSE: Exercise is associated with posttraumatic growth in gynecologic cancer survivors (GCS) but the role of extreme/adventure sport has not been investigated. The primary objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and interest in extreme/adventure sport in GCS and determine any associations with posttraumatic growth. METHODS: A Canadian provincial cancer registry generated a random sample of 2,064 GCS stratified by cancer type (i.e., cervical, endometrial, and ovarian) who were mailed a self-report survey that assessed demographic and medical variables, participation and interest in extreme/adventure sports, posttraumatic growth using several scales, and exercise growth. Exercise growth examined the extent to which the gynecologic cancer diagnosis itself prompted participation in more challenging, novel, and/or high risk activities. RESULTS: Of the 621 completed surveys, only 12.1% of GCS reported participating in extreme/adventure sports in the past year. Of 309 GCS interested in a future exercise study, 41.1% were interested in trying extreme/adventure sports. The strongest interest was for cross country skiing (56.9%) followed by horseback riding (51.5%) and river rafting (41.5%). After adjustment for key covariates, neither participation nor interest in extreme/adventure sport was associated with posttraumatic growth. However, all exercise growth items were significantly associated with all posttraumatic growth scales (all p’s<0.05). In multivariate regression analyses, exercise growth items explained 37.2 % of the variance in the posttraumatic growth inventory, 7.2% of the variance in the negative impact of cancer scale, 19.9% of the variance in the positive impact of cancer scale, and 23% of the variance in the benefit finding scale (all p’s<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Participation and interest in extreme/adventure sports were not associated with posttraumatic growth; however, exercise growth was strongly associated with posttraumatic growth in GCS.
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