Surviving to thriving: Virtual nutrition education in patients with breast cancer

Introduction

Improved outcomes in the treatment of breast cancer has increased the importance of formal survivorship. National guidelines and accreditation standards require institutional survivorship programs; however, implementation presents operational challenges. While existing literature affirms the need for clinician involvement in survivorship, applicability to virtual formats is unknown. Here we report our 3-year experience with design and implementation of virtual nutrition workshops in breast cancer survivorship.

Materials and methods

Free virtual workshops were developed by an interdisciplinary team and offered to eligible participants on a quarterly basis. Workshop content focused on diet, nutrition, and exercise in cancer prevention, development, and recurrence. A question-and-answer session addressed misconceptions about nutrition and cancer. Participants were invited to participate in an evaluation survey after each workshop. Post-workshop assessment of course effectiveness was performed with a four-point Likert scale and qualitative comments.

Results

116 women participated in the workshops. Quarterly attendance consistently grew and averaged sixteen participants per session. Post workshop surveys demonstrated significant improvements in participants’ knowledge, and likelihood of behavioral modification. 93 % of participants had the highest rating for likelihood of making a change to their diet, and 83 % for likelihood of making changes to physical activity. Qualitative feedback supported both the effectiveness of the education as well as the virtual group setting.

Conclusions

Virtual group workshops are effective for survivorship education. They present a feasible way to improve access to oncologic-trained dieticians for low-acuity concerns. The realistic design affords itself to easy reproducibility in other institutions seeking to implement disease-specific survivorship programs.