Below the Belt Award

Both physical activity and psychological support can greatly improve quality of life for men with metastatic prostate cancer. Although it is suggested men are more likely to follow physical activity guidelines than utilise psychological support, traditional supervised exercise is often unavailable and/or underutilised. The key is ensuring physical activity is accessible and affordable, but also individualised, evidence-based and safe. This study will provide personalised physical activity advice through an innovative web-based platform. It will be evaluated to ensure it works as intended and is well received by users and has the potential for significant impact through increased reach and uptake. Despite the high morbidity experienced by men with metastatic prostate cancer, and evidence that unmet supportive care needs are higher in this group compared to patients with localised disease (Couper et al, 2010; Sanda et al, 2008), there has been little intervention research aiming to improve quality of life and functional capacity for these patients. Where interventions have been trialled, the focus has predominantly been on psychological interventions, and many of these have had limited success (Chambers et al, 2017). One potentially promising intervention is physical activity support. Physical activity has been shown to improve both the physical and mental health of men with metastatic prostate cancer (Bourke et al, 2014; Cormie et al, 2013; Moe et al, 2017). It has also been suggested that men may be more likely to adhere to physical activity interventions than psychological interventions, since the performance of physical activity and the outcomes associated with it (building strength and endurance) align with traditional masculine values (Galvao et al, 2016). However, a key challenge is providing physical activity support to men in a way that is easily accessible and affordable, while also individualised, evidence-based and safe. This novel study will address this issue by providing evidence-based physical activity advice through an innovative web-based platform. While there are some face-to-face programs available, many men live too far away, are too unwell or lack funds to attend face-to-face sessions, especially on an ongoing basis. Our research team, which consists of experts in prostate cancer, exercise physiology, psychology, medicine and telehealth is well placed to develop an alternative support system that will be available to men with metastatic disease via the internet. Once the website is developed the next step will be to conduct preliminary research to ensure it works as intended and is well received by the initial users.