Exercise interventions used along the continuum of cancer care: A scoping review protocol

BACKGROUND: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Exercise is crucial for ameliorating the burden associated with cancer and its management. A broad review of exercise interventions for cancer patients is not available. OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to review the documented exercise interventions prescribed for adult cancer patients aimed at ameliorating cancer-related and cancer treatment-induced symptoms in patients along the continuum of care. METHODS: A three-step search strategy will be used, the research question was developed; the first step in the research process was identified and the search strategy was developed using the Participants-Concept-Context framework. English language publications from 15 electronic databases from 2011 to 2021 will be searched. The Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews will be to guide the review and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews will be used for the report. The search strategy incorporated terms relevant to the research question. The reference lists of articles included in the review will be screened for additional papers. Searched articles will be screened to determine their eligibility for inclusion and a pretested data extraction form will be used to chart the extracted evidence. RESULTS: This article presents a protocol for a scoping review on exercise interventions to affect symptoms in cancer patients from diagnosis to end-of-life care. CONCLUSION: A broad review of exercise interventions for cancer management in adult patients will elucidate the characteristics and context of exercises used along the cancer care continuum. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Exercise interventions used as part of cancer management will be mapped out to provide an overview of such exercise interventions. This could enhance knowledge among exercise oncology experts regarding exercise interventions for different cancer patient populations.