A study looking at how people want information about healthy eating and an active lifestyle after treatment for bowel cancer (HEAL CRC: DCT)

Cancer type:

Bowel (colorectal) cancer

Colon cancer

Rectal cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Other

This study was done to find the best way of giving information about healthy eating and activity to people who have had treatment for bowel cancer.

More about this trial

We know from research that people who’ve had treatment for cancer can have health problems associated with their treatment. Some also have a risk that the cancer could come back.

Studies had already shown that eating a healthy diet and being active can help reduce health problems for people who’ve had breast cancer. And possibly reduce the risk of the cancer coming back.

The people taking part in this study had all had treatment for bowel cancer. They filled out a questionnaire which asked them their most and least preferred options for things like:

how they want to get information
where they want to get information
who gives them information

The aim of the study was to find out how and where people preferred to get information about healthy eating and activity. The research team wanted to see if they could use this information to develop a healthy eating and activity programme.

Summary of results

The research team analysed the results of 179 questionnaires to find out how and where people wanted to get information about diet and exercise.

The results showed that, overall, people would prefer sessions:

on the telephone or face to face
at the hospital
with a specialist bowel cancer nurse

People would least want to have the sessions:

as a group
in a community centre
with a general practice nurse

But when the research team looked in more detail, they found that different people preferred different ways of getting information. The people taking part were broadly grouped into 3 groups.

They called the first group ‘technophiles’. The 79 people in this group were more likely to be younger, and male. They said they would prefer to get information via email or phone, and from their GP or in their own home. They didn’t want to travel to the hospital.

The second group was the ‘one to one’ group. The 61 people in this group were more likely to be older. They said they would prefer a telephone call or face to face session with their GP. They didn’t want to get information in an email.

The third group were the ‘person centred communicators’. The 39 people in this group were more likely to be female. They said they would prefer face to face individual or group sessions, rather than phone calls or emails.

The research team concluded that different people prefer to have information in different ways, and from different people. And that it is best to tailor the delivery of information to individual people.

We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.