ASPO Abstracts
Associations between Perceived Barriers, Social Support, and Self-efficacy with Diet Quality and Physical Activity among Cancer Survivors and their Supportive Partners
Category: Lifestyles Behavior, Energy Balance & Chemoprevention
Conference Year: 2023
Abstract Body:
Purpose: To improve lifestyle behaviors among cancer survivors and their partners, this study examined associations between perceived barriers, social support, and self-efficacy with diet quality and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) within this population. Methods: This secondary analysis was performed on baseline data from 112 cancer survivors and their supportive partners (56 dyads) enrolled in the 6-month DUET web-based lifestyle intervention trial. Participants completed on-line surveys that addressed 31 common barriers to diet and physical activity, social support (8-item instruments by Sallis et al), self-efficacy (20-item instrument for diet by Clark et al. and the 8-item Lifestyle Efficacy scale for physical activity by McAuley et al), and physical activity using the Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire. Diet quality (Healthy Eating Index [HEI]-2015) was assessed using 2- day, ASA-24 assisted, dietary recalls. Spearman partial correlation analyses were performed to detect associations between inter/intrapersonal factors with diet quality and MVPA. Results: The study sample was largely female (86%) and non-Hispanic White (69%) with a mean age of 58 years. The average HEI was 53.1± 11.7 (range 29.2– 87.8), and MVPA was 43.8± 59.5 minutes/week (range 0–280). Physical activity barriers were inversely associated with MVPA (r = -0.53, p-value = <.0001), whereas social support and self-efficacy were positively associated with MVPA, r = 0.26, p-value = .0073 and r = 0.30, p-value = .0015, respectively. No significant associations were detected between diet quality and dietary barriers, social support, and self-efficacy. However, dietary barriers were significantly higher in cancer survivors compared to partners (24.1 vs. 16.4, p-value = 0.0452). Conclusions: These data emphasize the need to incorporate strategies within lifestyle interventions that enhance social support and self-efficacy and reduce barriers to physical activity to promote behavior change. Barriers to improving diet are a key consideration in interventions for cancer survivors. Given that these data are limited by their cross-sectional nature, future studies are needed to ascertain the potential mediating impact of these factors on behavior change.
Keywords: Cancer Survivors, dyads, diet, exercise