Walking for Recovery From Surgery in Improving Quality of Life in Older Adults With Lung or Gastrointestinal Cancer and Their Family Caregivers

Walking for Recovery From Surgery: Pilot Study of a Prehabilitation Intervention for Older Adults With Cancer and Their Family Caregivers

This pilot clinical trial studies how well Walking for Recovery from Surgery works in improving quality of life in older adults with lung or gastrointestinal cancer and their family caregivers. A walking program, such as Walking for Recovery from Surgery may help support overall well-being as a caregiver, and may help improve family member or friend's recovery from surgery.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To examine whether the intervention and telehealth approach would be feasible and acceptable.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To examine patient outcome patterns suggesting the potential efficacy of the intervention on self-efficacy, functional status (daily steps, 6-minute walk time, timed up and go), psychological distress, symptoms, and global health status.

OUTLINE:

Patients and caregivers receive Walking for Recovery from Surgery prehabilitation intervention in 4 sessions 3-7 days before surgery, before discharge, and at 2 and 7 days post-discharge.

After completion of study, patients and caregivers are followed up for 2 months.

-Inclusion:

• PATIENT: Diagnosis of lung or GI (colorectal, pancreas, liver) cancers
• PATIENT: Scheduled to undergo surgery
• PATIENT: >= 65 years
• PATIENT: Able to read and understand English
• CAREGIVER: Family member/friend identified by the patient as the primary caregiver before and after surgery
• CAREGIVER: >= 21 years
• CAREGIVER: Able to read and understand English
• This study will be conducted in patients and family caregivers who are scheduled to undergo lung or GI cancer surgery treatment
• There are no restrictions related to performance status or life expectancy
• All subjects must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent

Exclusion

• Subjects, who in the opinion of the investigator, may not be able to comply with the safety monitoring requirements of the study