Informing the Delivery of Physical Activity Leadership for Pediatric Patients Undergoing Cancer Treatment

ABSTRACT

Physical activity (PA) is an important facet in survivorship care. Standardized curriculum which teaches undergraduate student exercise leaders how to implement PA programs for childhood cancer survivors have not been developed. Delivery of PA programs are limited by resources, so utilizing students to lead PA sessions is a potentially cost-effective approach. The purpose of this study was to learn how to optimize mentorship of student PA leaders in pediatric oncology. The aims were to report on the level of guidance provided to the student PA leaders, share student PA leaders’ reflection of their mentorship and the challenges they faced. Student PA leaders designed and delivered a 31-week, virtual PA program to pediatric cancer survivors (5–18-year-olds). Mentors provided feedback on the recorded sessions. PA leaders were interviewed about their perceptions, their experiences and the type of feedback they valued the most. Student PA leaders received the most feedback during the first 2 weeks of the program, suggesting close oversight is needed during this time. Students valued the feedback on improving PA delivery/instruction the most. Students reported feeling anxious prior to sessions, especially when new content would be introduced because they were unsure how the patients would respond to the new activities. Reinforcing that the leaders have the ability to minimize PA barriers and provide support may help to resolve their anxiety of working with this population. Using a similar approach as presented in this paper may be advantageous in the development of high-performing PA leaders.

KEYWORDS:

• Pediatric
• exercise
• anxiety
• mentorship
• leadership
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hawaii Community Foundation [21ADVC-109517].