Cancer prehabilitation programs and their effects on quality of life

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cancer prehabilitation programs have been reported as effective means of improving quality of life (QOL) in people with cancer, but research is lacking. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the characteristics of cancer prehabilitation programs and their effects on QOL in people with cancer. LITERATURE SEARCH: A systematic review of databases (PubMed, MEDLINE^®, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CINAHL^®, Scopus^®) was performed using key terms. DATA EVALUATION: Data were extracted, and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale was used to assess the quality of the studies. SYNTHESIS: 12 randomized, controlled trials with a total of 839 people with cancer were included in this review. Of these, seven cancer prehabilitation programs focused on physical interventions, three focused on psychological interventions, and two focused on multimodal interventions. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Oncology nurses could provide various cancer prehabilitation programs to patients who decide to undergo cancer-related treatment. Additional research on this subject should involve careful consideration of QOL instruments and sample size when designing the intervention.