Abstract
Purpose: This manuscript aims to compare and contrast acceptability and perceived benefits of yoga-skills training (YST) and an empathic listening attention control (AC) in the Pro-You study, a randomized pilot trial of YST vs. AC for adults receiving chemotherapy infusions for gastrointestinal cancer. Methods: Participants were invited for a one-on-one interview at week 14 follow-up, after completing all intervention procedures and quantitative assessments. Staff used a semi-structured guide to elicit participants’ views on study processes, the intervention they received, and its effects. Qualitative data analysis followed an inductive/deductive approach, inductively identifying themes and deductively guided by social cognitive theory. Results: Some barriers (e.g., competing demands, symptoms), facilitators (e.g., interventionist support, the convenience of clinic-based delivery), and benefits (e.g., decreased distress and rumination) were common across groups. YST participants uniquely described the importance of privacy, social support, and self-efficacy for increasing engagement in yoga. Benefits specific to YST included positive emotions and greater improvement in fatigue and other physical symptoms. Both groups described some self-regulatory processes, but through different mechanisms: self-monitoring in AC and the mind–body connection in YST. Conclusions: This qualitative analysis demonstrates that participant experiences in a yoga-based intervention or an AC condition reflect social cognitive and mind–body frameworks of self-regulation. Findings can be used to develop yoga interventions that maximize acceptability and effectiveness and to design future research that elucidates the mechanisms by which yoga is efficacious.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 172 |
Journal | Supportive Care in Cancer |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2023 |
Funding
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K01AT008219 (Principal Investigator: SJS); the Qualitative and Patient-Reported Outcomes Shared Resource of the Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center’s National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant P30CA012197; and the Wake Forest and Vanderbilt Institutes for Clinical and Translational Science supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences under grant award numbers UL1TR001420 and UL1TR002243. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We are grateful to Jordan Berlin, M.D., and other oncologists who helped us recruit participants, and to those who helped conduct the study, including Meg O’Mara, Kelsey Shore, Donatesa Dean, Shannon Golden, Donna Ashford, and Nicole Puccinelli-Ortega.
Keywords
- Cancer
- Fatigue
- Mechanisms
- Qualitative
- Self-regulation
- Yoga
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology