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. 2021 Feb 16:12:634223.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.634223. eCollection 2021.

The Role of Behavioral Science in Personalized Multimodal Prehabilitation in Cancer

Chloe Grimmett  1 , Katherine Bradbury  2 , Suzanne O Dalton  3   4 , Imogen Fecher-Jones  5 , Meeke Hoedjes  6 , Judit Varkonyi-Sepp  7 , Camille E Short  8   9
Affiliations

The Role of Behavioral Science in Personalized Multimodal Prehabilitation in Cancer

Chloe Grimmett et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Multimodal prehabilitation is increasingly recognized as an important component of the pre-operative pathway in oncology. It aims to optimize physical and psychological health through delivery of a series of tailored interventions including exercise, nutrition, and psychological support. At the core of this prescription is a need for considerable health behavior change, to ensure that patients are engaged with and adhere to these interventions and experience the associated benefits. To date the prehabilitation literature has focused on testing the efficacy of devised exercise and nutritional interventions with a primary focus on physiological and mechanistic outcomes with little consideration for the role of behavioral science, supporting individual behavior change or optimizing patient engagement. Changing health behavior is complex and to maximize success, prehabilitation programs should draw on latest insights from the field of behavioral science. Behavioral science offers extensive knowledge on theories and models of health behavior change to further advance intervention effectiveness. Similarly, interventions developed with a person-centered approach, taking into consideration individual needs and preferences will increase engagement. In this article, we will provide an overview of the extent to which the existing prehabilitation literature incorporates behavioral science, as well as studies that have explored patient's attitudes toward prehabilitation. We will go on to describe and critique ongoing trials in a variety of contexts within oncology prehabilitation and discuss how current scientific knowledge may be enhanced from a behavioral science perspective. We will also consider the role of "surgery schools" and detail practical recommendations that can be embedded in existing or emerging clinical settings.

Keywords: behavior change; behavioral science; cancer; co-design; interventions; oncology; prehabilitaion.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Embedding behavioral science in program planning, optimization, and evaluation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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