My Active Health Retreat: A Qualitative Study on the Experiences and Perspectives of Breast Cancer Survivors.

Introduction: From the time of diagnosis, breast cancer survivors' physical activity (PA) tends to decline, which is accentuated during treatment because of side effects such as fatigue, depression, decreased muscle mass, and treatment toxicity. The My Active Health Retreat has been created to provide community-based support for breast cancer survivors to engage in a healthy lifestyle and educate about health matters. This qualitative study explores participants' perspectives and past, present, and future experiences regarding the workshops offered during the My Active Health retreat. Materials and Methods: My Active Health retreat has been designed to provide strategies to engage in a physically active lifestyle. Participants who consented to be part of this qualitative study filled out a questionnaire to provide their experiences and perspectives of the retreat. Themes were generated to help understand the participants' views about their experiences with the workshop's content in the retreat. Results: The participants were 21 women (mean age of 54.5 years) who filled out the post-retreat questionnaire. Workshops on yoga, meditation, exercise, and walking were highly praised for reducing stress and anxiety and promoting mindfulness. The importance of social contact in alleviating survivors' feelings of isolation was emphasized. The participants expressed their intention to incorporate the knowledge from the retreat into their daily lives. Conclusions: This study provides significant insights that can guide the development of content in health retreats focused on PA for breast cancer survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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