A study looking at a rehabilitation programme for men who have completed treatment for testicular cancer (RESTART)

Cancer type:

Testicular cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Pilot

This study tested a 6 week programme to give men advice and support after treatment for testicular cancer.

This study was open for men to join between January and November 2012. These results were presented as a poster at a conference in 2013.

More about this trial

Cancer and its treatment can have physical, psychological and financial effects. Of the people who do return to work after treatment, some find they can’t do as much as they could before.

Despite this most survivors of testicular cancer say they have a more positive outlook on life after their diagnosis. We also know from research that survivors of testicular cancer have a good quality of life in general.

Programmes to support people after cancer treatment (rehabilitation Open a glossary item programmes) may help them get back to normal again. There is a limited understanding of the needs of men with testicular cancer.

Researchers in this study ran a rehabilitation programme for men who had finished treatment to cure their cancer. It gave specialist advice and support about returning to work, finance, exercise, relationships and fertility.

Other similar programmes have been helpful for people with other cancers.

The aim of this pilot study was to test a rehabilitation programme for testicular cancer and use the results to improve the programme.

Summary of results

The study team found the 6 week rehabilitation programme was:

well received by the men
feasible to do

About this study

35 men, from 2 cancer centres, took part in the 6 week programme. Everyone completed questionnaires:

at the start of the programme
after the end of the programme

The questions asked about:

their anxiety
depression
their quality of life
side effects
how they managed their cancer

Results

The team reported that attendance to the programme was good with more than 8 out of 10 men (80%) attending each session. Of the 35 men the team have the results for 32.

At the end of the programme there was a significant decrease in the men’s anxiety and depression.

The men reported:

being able to better manage their cancer
feeling better about the future
that the impact of the treatment’s side effects had decreased

On average the men rated the programme as a 9 out of 10.

Conclusion

The team concluded that a rehabilitation programme such as this is feasible to do. And it is acceptable to men with testicular cancer.

This study has shown that taking part in the programme can:

reduce anxiety and depression
improve quality of life

Where this information comes from

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

) but may not have been published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the research team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.