Abstract
BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) has been positively associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among cancer patients and family caregivers. However, there has been no relevant research for patient-caregiver dyads.MethodsPath analysis, based on the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), was used to examine the relationship between physical activity and health-related quality of life and explore the mediating role of emotional distress in 233 dyads.ResultsIn both patients and caregivers, physical activity had a direct positive effect on physical quality of life (QoL) but not on mental. There was a significant indirect effect of physical activity on health-related quality of life via emotional distress for both dyad members. Patients’ and caregivers’ confidence in fighting cancer was negatively associated with their own emotional distress. Caregivers’ confidence in fighting cancer was positively associated with their physical activity and also negatively associated with patients’ emotional distress.ConclusionsPhysical activity may be considered as a possible behavioral and rehabilitation strategy for improving health-related quality of life in patient-caregiver dyads and reducing negative symptoms. Future research and intervention may consider cancer patient-family caregiver dyad as a unit of care.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) has been positively associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among cancer patients and family caregivers
Patient-family caregiver dyad may be considered as a unit of care in future research and intervention
Participants and descriptive statistics The patient sample consisted of cancer patients who had been diagnosed with lung cancer (24.0%), breast cancer (19.3%), colorectal cancer (14.2%), female reproductive cancers, nasopharyngeal cancer (6.4%), esophageal and stomach cancer (3.0%), prostate cancer (2.6%), nonHodgkin’s lymphoma (2.6%), thyroid cancer (1.7%), and other types of cancer (18.0%)
Summary
Physical activity (PA) has been positively associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among cancer patients and family caregivers. Cancer has an adverse effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients [1] and their caregivers [2]. Previous studies have associated poor HRQoL with higher levels of stress [3, 4], anxiety, and depression [5, 6], while physical activity (PA) provides physiological and psychological benefits [7], including reductions in symptoms of depression [8] and emotional distress [9] and improvements in cancer patients’ HRQoL during active treatment and rehabilitation [6, 7, 10, 11]. Limited yet important research on PA among family caregivers [2, 18] has shown that PA improves caregivers’ quality of life (QoL) [2] and reduces their stress, depression, and burden [18]
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