Motivational Interviewing to Increase Physical Activity Behavior in Cancer Patients: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE: This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at evaluating the feasibility and potential efficacy of a motivational interviewing (MI) intervention to increase physical activity (PA) behavior in cancer patients. METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group with standard care plus 12 MI sessions within 12 weeks or a control group with standard care only. The number of recruited participants and the modality of recruitment were recorded to describe the reach of the study. The acceptability of the study was estimated using the attrition rate during the intervention phase. The potential efficacy of the intervention was evaluated by analyzing the PA behavior. RESULTS: Twenty-five participants were recruited within the 16-month recruitment period (1.6 participants per month). Five participants (38.5%) from the experimental group (n = 13) and one participant (8.3%) from the control group (n = 12) dropped out of the study before the end of the intervention phase. No group by time interaction effect for PA behavior was observed at the end of the intervention. CONCLUSION: Due to the low recruitment rate and compliance, no conclusion can be drawn regarding the efficacy of MI to increase PA behavior in cancer patients. Moreover, the current literature cannot provide any evidence on the effectiveness of MI to increase PA in cancer survivors. Future RCTs should consider that the percentage of uninterested patients to join the study may be as high as 60%. Overrecruitment (30% to 40%) is also recommended to accommodate the elevated attrition rate.

Comparison of high-frequency intensive balneotherapy with low-frequency balneotherapy combined with land-based exercise on postural control in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) can generate postural control impairments which can increase fall risk. Land-based exercise (LBE) and balneotherapy are two modalities currently prescribed, but the impact of the latter on balance control has not been studied. This study aimed to compare two programs of balneotherapy with or without LBE to improve postural control, looking at frequency and duration of treatment. A total of 236 KOA patients (mean age = 64 years) were included in this prospective and randomized study: 122 patients went through 3 weeks of standardized continuous balneotherapy (high frequency/short duration) program (Gr1) and 114 went through 3 weeks of discontinuous (low frequency) balneotherapy program followed by 3 weeks of LBE (Gr2). The total number of treatment sessions was the same for both groups. Posturography was carried out before balneotherapy (W0) and at 3 (W3), 6 (W6), and 12 (W12) weeks after the beginning of treatment. Postural control increased in Gr1 from W0 to W3 and from W0 to W12 and in Gr2 from W0 to W6 and from W3 to W6. The improvement was greater in Gr1 from W0 to W3 and from W6 to W12 and in Gr2 from W3 to W6. High-frequency intensive balneotherapy improved posture control at 3 weeks, while low-frequency balneotherapy did not. This improvement persisted over a 12-week assessment period at the same level. LBE generated an improvement that did not persist over time. Sustained improvement of postural control requires high-frequency repetition of consecutive balneotherapy sessions.