Grant: Operating Grant

Women never really "get over" their experience of breast cancer. Survivors are faced with persistent and pervasive health challenges that increase the risk for other chronic diseases. It is a priority to identify factors that can mitigate the adverse physical and psychological health problems for breast cancer survivors that often leave them physically, emotionally, and functionally impaired. We propose that lifestyle activity - a combination of being physically active and limiting sedentary time - can help improve the long-term health and quality of life of women surviving breast cancer. Our existing longitudinal study examines the natural changes in lifestyle activity, psychological and physical health, and related underlying biological functioning during the first 1.5 years after treatment for breast cancer. Increases in physical activity after treatment are linked to improved emotional well-being, decreased inflammation, lower levels of biological stress, and better physical health, all of which may relate to improved overall health over time. We now propose to collect data from these women to see if the protective effects of lifestyle activity are maintained as women move further away from treatment and enter longer-term survivorship phases. This current proposal extends our study to: (i) examine links between physical activity and sedentary behaviour and long-term patterns of key indicators of psychological and physical health; and (ii) identify factors that predict engagement in lifestyle activity over time. These objectives will be met by collecting a mix of data at 3 times in the next 4.5 years - allowing us to examine short and long-term survivorship phases. The findings will help inform intervention strategies, guide theoretical tenets, and identify key lifestyle activity strategies for improving health and well-being during survivorship among the 450 Canadian women diagnosed with breast cancer each week.