Trial Information

Community Volunteers Promoting Physical Activity Among Cancer Survivors

The current study, a randomized controlled trial, represents the next step in our efforts to
extend the research on physical activity to the community setting; community volunteers will
deliver the intervention, thereby making physical activity interventions much more
accessible to survivors. In partnership with the National ACS office (Atlanta, GA) and the
New England ACS Division, researchers at the Miriam Hospital will share their skills,
experience and resources to examine the effects of training RTR volunteers to deliver brief
physical activity counseling to breast cancer survivors. Fifteen to twenty RTR volunteers
will be trained to offer a 12-week telephone-based PA program as a supplement to 12-week RTR
services (RTR Plus) vs. delivering the standard 12-week RTR services (RTR) to 108 breast
cancer survivors. Assessments of physical activity, fatigue and other outcomes will be
completed at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks. Data on side-effects of the intervention and
costs of intervention delivery will be tracked. If the proposed randomized trial
demonstrates positive effects, the results will be used to design and support a
dissemination trial of the effects of physical activity promotion to enhance cancer recovery
in a community setting.