Assessing the physical activity of parents of children suffering from cancer: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Regular physical activity (PA) is essential for biopsychosocial health, but reduced PA during therapy for childhood cancer increases the burden of long-term side effects. Cancer and its therapy determine the everyday life of affected families, and parents spend plenty of time with their child in the hospital. Thus, we assumed that the restriction of the movement environment affects the parents' PA-behavior. Meanwhile, parents have a pronounced influence on their child's PA-behavior. This is the first study to investigate the PA and sitting time (ST) of parents before and during their child's cancer therapy. Methods Forty parents provided their consent and participated in the study between September 2021 and February 2022. Parental PA and ST were assessed before and during their child's cancer therapy in a cross-sectional design using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF). The questionnaire was supplemented with additional self-generated questions. Analysis of variance was applied using IBM SPSS Statistics. The Ethics Committee of the University of Freiburg approved the study. Results The parents' PA-levels before their child's diagnosis corresponded with reference values of healthy adults. During their child's therapy, all dimensions of parental daily PA and the number of Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET)-minutes of PA per week decreased significantly. Especially during inpatient stays, PA decreased (mean ± SD: from 3004.5 ± 2301.4 to 889.1 ± 1585.1; p < 0.001), with a significant increase in ST in minutes per workday (mean ± SD: from 329.3 ± 196.6 to 687.8 ± 268.8; p < 0.001). Conclusions This is the first study to show that the PA of parents of children suffering from cancer significantly decreases during cancer therapy. Considering that parental PA can significantly affect their child's behavior during and after completion of cancer therapy, exercise programs in pediatric oncology should expand and include parents to reduce inactivity-related long-term side effects. Trial registration: German Register of Clinical Trials No.: DRKS00026248, prospectively registered on 17/09/2021.