Survivorship care plans and adherence to lifestyle recommendations among breast cancer survivors.
The effectiveness of survivorship care plans has not been widely tested. We evaluated whether a one-time brief lifestyle consultation as part of a broader survivorship care plan was effective at changing diet and lifestyle patterns.



A diverse sample of women with stage 0-III breast cancer were randomized to control or intervention groups within 6 weeks of completing adjuvant treatment. Both groups received the National Cancer Institute publication, "Facing Forward: Life after Cancer Treatment." The intervention group also met with a nurse (1 h) and a nutritionist (1 h) to receive personalized lifestyle recommendations based upon national guidelines. Diet, lifestyle, and perceived health were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Linear regression analyses evaluated the effects of the intervention adjusted for covariates.



A total of 126 women completed the study (60 control/66 intervention, 61 Hispanic/65 non-Hispanic). At 3 months, the intervention group reported greater knowledge of a healthy diet (P = 0.047), importance of physical activity (P = 0.03), and appropriate use of dietary supplements (P = 0.006) and reported lower frequency of alcohol drinking (P = 0.03) than controls. At 6 months, only greater knowledge of a healthy diet (P = 0.01) persisted. The intervention was more effective among non-Hispanics than Hispanics on improving attitude towards healthy eating (P = 0.03) and frequency of physical activity (P = 0.006).



The intervention changed lifestyle behaviors and knowledge in the short-term, but the benefits did not persist.



Culturally competent long-term behavioral interventions should be tested beyond the survivorship care plan to facilitate long-term behavior change among breast cancer survivors.
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA. hg2120@columbia.edu.|Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. hg2120@columbia.edu.
Heather
H
Greenlee
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.|Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Christine L Sardo
CL
Molmenti
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.|Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Katherine D
KD
Crew
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Danielle
D
Awad
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Kevin
K
Kalinsky
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Lois
L
Brafman
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Deborah
D
Fuentes
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
Zaixing
Z
Shi
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Wei-Yann
WY
Tsai
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.|Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Alfred I
AI
Neugut
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.|Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Dawn L
DL
Hershman
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*
Breast cancer; Diet; Dietary supplements; Physical activity; Survivorship care plan