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. 2025 Jan 6;33(1):72.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-024-09099-6.

Acceptability of the Fit2ThriveMB mHealth physical activity promotion intervention in women with metastatic breast cancer

Julia Starikovsky  1 , Payton Solk  1 , Ria Desai  1 , Jean M Reading  1 , Kristina Hasanaj  1 , Shirlene D Wang  1 , Lillian B Carden  1 , Melanie Wolter  1 , Brendan Hickey  1 , Jungwha Lee  1 , Jing Song  1 , Hannah Freeman  1 , Jacqueline Alexander  1 , Bonnie Spring  1 , William Gradishar  2 , Siobhan M Phillips  3
Affiliations

Acceptability of the Fit2ThriveMB mHealth physical activity promotion intervention in women with metastatic breast cancer

Julia Starikovsky et al. Support Care Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: Increasing physical activity (PA) is safe and associated with improved health outcomes in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Mobile health (mHealth) PA interventions that allow for remote monitoring and tailoring to abilities may be particularly useful for MBC patients. However, limited data exist on the acceptability of these interventions for MBC patients. This study examined the acceptability of Fit2ThriveMB, a highly tailored mHealth intervention targeting increased daily steps in MBC patients.

Methods: Insufficiently active women with MBC ((N = 25) Mage = 57.2, SD = 11.9) received the Fit2ThriveMB intervention (Fit2ThrviveMB app, Fitbit, weekly coaching calls) for 12 weeks. Participants completed an online questionnaire (n = 22) and semi-structured interview (n = 23) at 12 weeks to assess intervention acceptability. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Interviews were analyzed and coded using thematic content analysis and consensus review.

Results: All (n = 23) participants indicated they were satisfied with the intervention, Fit2ThriveMB app design, and Fitbit usability via questionnaire. Four themes emerged from qualitative interview data: (1) Overall satisfaction with implementation, (2) Social interaction is important, but within-app social features need improvement, (3) Fit2ThriveMB was encouraging and enhanced accountability, (4) Fit2ThriveMB helped form sustainable habits. Participants were generally satisfied with the intervention. However, areas for improvement were identified for some study features.

Conclusions: Findings indicate Fit2ThriveMB was acceptable among people with MBC. Further refinement of Fit2ThriveMB social feed features and step count goals is warranted for future testing in fully powered trials with a larger sample size.

Keywords: Acceptability; Behavioral medicine; Exercise; MHealth; Metastatic breast cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: This study was approved by the Northwestern University Institutional Review Board (STU00210628) and was performed in accordance with the ethical standard as laid down in the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. Consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Consent to publish: The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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