Media type: E-Article Title: A pilot feasibility study of Exercising Together© during radiation therapy for prostate cancer: a dyadic approach for patients and spouses Contributor: Winters-Stone, Kerri M.; Lyons, Karen S.; Beer, Tomasz M.; Skiba, Meghan B.; Hung, Arthur imprint: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021 Published in: Pilot and Feasibility Studies Language: English DOI: 10.1186/s40814-021-00952-7 ISSN: 2055-5784 Keywords: Medicine (miscellaneous) Origination: Footnote: Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Introduction</jats:title> <jats:p>Prostate cancer can negatively impact the health of patients and their spouse, particularly early on in the cancer trajectory.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Purpose</jats:title> <jats:p>To determine the feasibility and acceptability of dyadic exercises during radiation therapy and preliminary efficacy on physical, mental, and relational outcomes for men and their spouses. <jats:italic>Exercising Together©</jats:italic>, originally designed as a 6-month dyadic resistance training program for couples post-treatment, was adapted for the radiation setting.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We conducted a single-group pilot feasibility study of <jats:italic>Exercising Together©</jats:italic> in men scheduled for radiation therapy for prostate cancer and their spouse<jats:italic>.</jats:italic> Couples attended supervised exercise sessions thrice weekly throughout radiation treatment and were followed up 8 weeks later. Primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability with secondary outcomes of changes in physical (physical functioning (short physical performance battery (sPPB)), gait speed (m/s), functional capacity (400-m walk (min), physical activity (min/week)), mental (depressive symptoms (CES-D), and anxiety (SCL-90 ANX)), and relationship (Dyadic Coping, Role Overload, and Physical Intimacy Behavior Scales) health outcomes for each partner. Participants completed an evaluation post-intervention.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>Ten couples enrolled and 8 completed the intervention, attending 83% of scheduled sessions. Couple satisfaction with the intervention was high (patients: mean difference (MD) = 9.4 ± 1.9 and spouses: MD = 10.0 ± 0.0, on a 1–10 scale). At post-intervention, gait speed (MD = 0.1; 95%CI: 0.1, 0.2; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.003; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.94) and functional capacity (MD = −0.6; 95%CI: −0.9, 0.3; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.002; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = −0.42) improved in patients and sPPB in spouses (MD = 1.3; 95%CI: 0.3, 2.2; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.02; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.71). Total physical activity increased non-significantly for patients and significantly for spouses at post-intervention and decreased at follow-up (MD = 179.6; 95%CI: 55.4, 303.7; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.01; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 1.35 and MD = −139.9; 95%CI: −266.5, 13.3; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.03; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic>=1.06). Among patients, anxiety and active engagement significantly improved post-intervention (MD = −2.3; 95%CI: −3.8, 0.7; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.01; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = −0.43 and MD = 2.5; 95%CI: 0.7, 4.3; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.01; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.98, respectively). There were modest effects on other physical, mental, and relationship health domains in patients and spouses.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>A modified version of <jats:italic>Exercising Together©</jats:italic> is a feasible and acceptable program during radiation therapy for prostate cancer and shows preliminary evidence for improvements on physical, mental, and relational health in both patient and spouse. A larger, fully powered randomized controlled trial is warranted and could help shift the landscape toward dyadically targeted interventions.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Trial registration</jats:title> <jats:p>This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov on February 18th, 2018 (<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03418025">NCT03418025</jats:ext-link>).</jats:p> </jats:sec> Access State: Open Access