Cancer survivors often face barriers to physical activity, such as fatigue, lack of motivation, or little access to programs. The SoDA study evaluates whether a practical, accessible intervention-focused on daily activities like walking, cycling, or gardening-delivered in primary care close to patients’ home, can improve outcomes. We aim to implement and evaluate a home-based PA counselling programme in general practice for cancer survivors and to identify the barriers and facilitators related to the implementation.
Cancer survivors often struggle to meet physical activity recommendations, impacting their long-term health and quality of life. By investigating whether a primary care-based physical activity counselling programme can address these challenges, the SoDA study aims to improve both patient outcomes and accessibility to effective interventions. With primary care being highly accessible and covered by insurance, this approach has the potential for broad implementation, offering a sustainable model for long-term survivorship care.
The findings of this study can lead to actionable insights on how to integrate practical physical activity interventions into routine primary care.
We aim to evalaute the implementation of a home-based physical activity counselling programme for cancer survivors in primary care, both on patient and organisational level. The study will evaluate changes of the program on both psychological and physical patient outcomes (patient level), and identify key barriers and facilitators to implementation (organisational level), providing essential evidence on how to integrate these interventions into routine care.
The department of Primary and Long-term Care of the UMCG is the academic lead in the SoDA project, working closely together with the departments of Human Movement Sciences and Medical Oncology. The SoDA project is performed in 15 general practices in the north of the Netherlands.
Throughout the project, patient partners were involved in all phases of the research. These patient partners from the Borstkankervereniging Nederland attended project group meetings, reviewed protocols and patient materials, and were involved in qualitative analysis of patient interviews.
The project is funded by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF Kankerbestrijding).
By identifying barriers and facilitators to implementing physical activity counseling in primary care, our findings will help shape more effective models of care for cancer survivors. If successful, the intervention could be incorporated into regular practice, helping GPs offer accessible, evidence-based support to survivors, ultimately improving their health outcomes and quality of life.
University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)
Department of Primary and Long-term Care
Internal postcode FA21
P.O. Box 196
9700 AD Groningen
Visiting address
UMCG
Department of Primary and Long-term Care
Oostersingel | entrance 47 | building 50 | 2nd floor
Groningen
The Netherlands
