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The role of the built environment in a randomized controlled trial to increase physical activity among men with prostate cancer: the PROMOTE trial

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between the built environment and physical activity (PA) in prostate cancer survivors (PCS), as well as whether built environment factors (walkability, count of sports complexes) were effect modifiers of a PA intervention.

Methods

Our study included 165 PCS residing in Edmonton, Alberta, from the PROMOTE trial. The PROMOTE trial was a randomized controlled trial of a behaviour change intervention to increase PA and quality of life in PCS. In the PROMOTE trial, 423 PCS were randomly assigned to a standard physical activity recommendation, self-administered implementation intention, or telephone-assisted implementation intention group. PA and quality of life outcomes were assessed at baseline, 1, and 3 months. To explore the role of the built environment, this study examined walkability and count of sport complexes.

Results

Linear regression analyses revealed that the self-administered intervention group had an increase in self-reported PA minutes/week (β = 133.4, 95% CI = −18.9 to 285.6); however, none of the built environment variables were found to be significantly associated with PA. The logistic regression showed that the self-administered intervention group had a significantly greater likelihood of meeting the PA guidelines (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 0.9 to 4.9), though no built environment variables were associated with PA levels.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that the built environment was not associated with PA and was not an effect modifier in a PA behaviour change intervention for PCS. Further research is needed before clear conclusions can be generated (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01410656).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a University of Alberta Killam Research Fund Cornerstone Grant. Erin McGowan was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (grant no. 700019). Kerry S. Courneya and Daniel Fuller are supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program. We would like to thank Carol Russell and Lorraine Cormier from the Alberta Cancer Registry for their assistance in conducting this study (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01410656).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Physical Education Building (PE 2022B), St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada

    Erin L. McGowan & Daniel Fuller

  2. Centre INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, 531 Boul des Prairies, Laval, QC, H7V 1B7, Canada

    Nicoleta Cutumisu

  3. Medical Oncology, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Cross Cancer Institute, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1Z2, Canada

    Scott North

  4. Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, 1-113 University Hall, Van Vliet Complex, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H9, Canada

    Kerry S. Courneya

Authors
  1. Erin L. McGowan
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  2. Daniel Fuller
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  3. Nicoleta Cutumisu
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  4. Scott North
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  5. Kerry S. Courneya
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin L. McGowan.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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McGowan, E.L., Fuller, D., Cutumisu, N. et al. The role of the built environment in a randomized controlled trial to increase physical activity among men with prostate cancer: the PROMOTE trial. Support Care Cancer 25, 2993–2996 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3798-1

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