Barriers correlate to whether cancer care providers consult about exercise, sleep, and nutrition

Cancer care providers previously reported a lack of knowledge, comfort counseling, time, and compensation to be barriers to consulting patients about exercise and nutrition. There have not been any studies assessing providers’ barriers to consulting about sleep and exercise has not been reevaluated since the release of physical activity guidelines for cancer. In this comprehensive study of cancer care providers’ barriers to counseling patients about exercise, sleep, and nutrition, we hypothesized that providers would self-report a lack of 1) knowledge about the guidelines 2) comfort in counseling patients and 3) insufficient time to counsel patients about exercise, sleep, and nutrition. We hypothesized that providers’ beliefs about benefits, personal lifestyle, barriers, and patient inquiry would be correlated with whether they counsel patients about exercise, sleep, and nutrition. We created and nationally distributed a survey to assess providers’ beliefs about the benefits, current practice, personal lifestyle, and potential barriers to consulting about exercise, sleep, and nutrition. Cancer care providers (n=239) did not agree that they had enough knowledge or time to consult patients about exercise and nutrition. Providers also did not agree that they had enough knowledge, comfort, and time to consult about sleep. Knowledge, comfort, and time were all linearly correlated to whether providers currently consult patients about exercise, sleep, and nutrition. These provide evidence for areas of intervention. Wearable activity monitors could provide providers with information to aid in their ability to consult patients about exercise, sleep, and nutrition at all stages of cancer care.