“How people with glioblastomas view physical activity throughout their palliative journey: A Realist study”

Individuals living with a glioblastoma often experience lower quality of life due to ongoing treatments, their side-effects and symptoms related to tumour location. Recent research has shown that physical activity interventions can reduce loss of physical function, lessen fatigue and symptom burden, and foster enhanced quality of life in patients living with glioblastomas (an aggressive, often incurable brain tumour). Regrettably, given the often challenging disease and treatment related symptoms and side effects, few glioblastoma patients are sufficiently active to reap any health benefits. Moreover, physical activity is often not recommended to glioblastoma patients for fear of adverse events (e.g., falls, seizures). Interviewing individuals living with glioblastoma will increase our understanding of what physical activities they prefer and may be willing to engage in and how they view these activities as a means to enhance their overall quality of life. Our study will examine what factors affect how people with glioblastomas view their ability to engage in physical activity as opposed to other activities. The knowledge generated from this study will contribute to the evidence on the best way to engage individuals living with glioblastomas in physical activity in the context of early palliative care to enhance their quality of life.