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Abstract

Cancer treatments often negatively impact health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) for cancer survivors (CS), ignoring the multi-dimensional nature of the human experience of cancer and its impact on mental and spiritual domains. A holistic integrative approach was implemented on a heterogenous population of cancer survivors during the COVID epidemic with the goal of improving their overall well-being by looking beyond physical functioning. PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between spirituality and self-efficacy of cancer survivors of all types of cancer following a holistic intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Subjects were recruited via network partners and self-referral. Subjects were eligible to participate if they were cancer survivors of any type at any stage of cancer treatment; subjects were ineligible to participate if they presented with any absolute contraindications to exercise testing as per ACSM guidelines. For 16 weeks, subjects were asked to participate in three 75-minute sessions of therapeutic yoga-based with loving kindness meditation per week. Psychosocial support text messages were sent daily to subjects based on their motivational state to encourage participation in these health enhancing behaviors. Data was collected through numerous channels including BlueJay Mobile Telehealth medicine application. RESULTS: A total of 29 survivors provided informed consent. The average age of the subjects was 58.9 years, 25 female survivors and 4 male survivors; 11 of the 29 self-reported as Latino/ Hispanic. The 29 subjects were survivors of the following primary cancers: breast cancer (n=21), cervical cancer (n=2), ovarian cancer (n=1), prostate cancer (n=1), sarcoma (n=1), lymphoma (n=1), thyroid cancer (n=1), or leukemia (n=1). There is a positive association between how confident a cancer survivor feels towards performing exercise in various situations and the amount of social support they receive from their family (p<.001) and friends (p<.001). The individual’s confidence to overcome the obstacle to exercise and their level of hope are associated with the support they receive from loved ones. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that to improve exercise behavior in adult cancer survivors, one should incorporate social support to strengthen barriers self-efficacy to improve outcome expectations. To further understand these associations, longitudinal research is needed and should include more survivors.

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