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“To be there for my family” and “Keep my independence”: Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Cancer Survivors’ Health Behaviour Motives

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Abstract

Purpose

Cancer survivors are at risk of comorbidities and mortality, and those living outside of metropolitan areas are particularly susceptible given poorer socioeconomic, health and support resources. As engagement in health behaviours is affected by participants’ autonomous motives, investigation of the motives of cancer survivors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas could elucidate the values and reasons for practising health behaviours, allowing programs to be tailored to these motives.

Methods

Metropolitan (n = 103) and non-metropolitan (n = 80) Australian cancer survivors completed a survey item by describing their motives for physical activity and healthy diet change. Inductive thematic analysis of responses was performed to establish themes across health behaviour motives.

Results

Analyses revealed four themes: to be able to, longevity, psychological health and appearance. Survivors primarily referred to being able to enjoy family, leisure activities, travel and staying independent, with these motives often linked to longevity. Motives were similar across locations; however, those in non-metropolitan locations reported continuation of work and pain relief more frequently. Female survivors more often reported weight loss.

Conclusions

A predominant motive for health behaviour change in cancer survivors across geographical location was the ability to enjoy family and engage in leisure and work activities. Programs aiming to promote health behaviours in cancer survivors might consider framing interventions accordingly by emphasizing benefits of longevity and maintaining independence.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the study participants for their contribution.

Data/code availability

Data available upon request.

Funding

CMS was supported by a PhD scholarship from St. John of God Health Care and Curtin University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia

    Chloé Maxwell-Smith

  2. Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia

    Chloé Maxwell-Smith & Sarah J. Hardcastle

  3. St John of God Hospital, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia

    Paul A. Cohen, Cameron Platell & Christobel Saunders

  4. Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Paul A. Cohen

  5. University of Western Australia Medical School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia

    Cameron Platell & Christobel Saunders

  6. Women Centre, West Leederville, Western Australia, Australia

    Jason Tan

  7. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Sophie Nightingale & Craig Lynch

  8. Tamara Private Hospital, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia

    Frank Sardelic

  9. Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Jacob McCormick

  10. School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Sarah J. Hardcastle

Authors
  1. Chloé Maxwell-Smith
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  2. Paul A. Cohen
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  3. Cameron Platell
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  4. Jason Tan
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  7. Craig Lynch
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  8. Frank Sardelic
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  10. Sarah J. Hardcastle
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Contributions

Chloé Maxwell-Smith, Sarah Hardcastle, Cameron Platell and Paul Cohen contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was completed by Chloé Maxwell-Smith and Sarah Hardcastle. Data collection was completed by Chloé Maxwell-Smith, Paul Cohen, Jason Tan, Cameron Platell, Christobel Saunders, Sophie Nightingale, Craig Lynch, Frank Sardelic and Jacob McCormick. Data analysis was performed by Chloé Maxwell-Smith and Sarah Hardcastle. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Chloé Maxwell-Smith. Editing was provided by Sarah Hardcastle and Paul Cohen. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chloé Maxwell-Smith.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the St. John of God Human Research Ethics Committee (#937, #1102, #1201) and adheres to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all survey respondents. This study was conducted and reported in accord with the Standards of Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines.

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Maxwell-Smith, C., Cohen, P.A., Platell, C. et al. “To be there for my family” and “Keep my independence”: Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Cancer Survivors’ Health Behaviour Motives. Support Care Cancer 29, 1969–1976 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05690-9

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