Help Answer Questions About Exercise after Colon Cancer Treatment

Are you done — or almost done — with your treatment for colon cancer?

Will you help answer a question about how to help colon cancer survivors  increase their physical activity?

You’ll learn more about colon cancer and may be randomly assigned to a special interactive program that is designed to help recovering colon cancer patients develop a healthy lifestyle.

The Survivorship Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) study is available in centers in Wisconsin, Texas, North Carolina, and Connecticut.  To be part of the research, you need to have completed treatment for stage I, II, or III colon cancer within the past 12 months. 

Evidence has shown that exercise can reduce risk of recurrence for people with colon cancer, but some people may have trouble returning to their pre-cancer activity or improving on old habits.  The CHESS study will test a new intervention that may help those folks.

If you are a colon cancer survivor — or are close to finishing your treatment — get more information or join the study by calling a program director:

• University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in Madison — 1-800-361-5481
• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston — 1-877-554-6061
• University of North Carolina Lineberger Cancer Center in Chapel Hill — 1-877-404-7255
• Helen and Harry Gray Cancer Center at Hartford Hospital, Connecticut — 1-860-545-4681

Survivorship CHESS is designed to help colon cancer patients develop

• competence in gathering information making decisions, and learning about behaviors they are trying to change.
• social support systems to help deal with their cancer experience.
• autonomy that comes when they regain a sense of control over their lives.
• ways to adopt or maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors and improve their quality of life.

During the study:

A new interactive cancer communication system (ICCS) called Survivorship Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) will be developed and tested to promote lifestyle change among colon cancer survivors. The study will test the efficacy of Survivorship CHESS to help newly diagnosed colon cancer survivors increase their physical activity, decrease distress, and improve quality of life.

The study is funded by the National Cancer Institute and headed by David Gustafson, PhD., University of Wisconsin-Madison & Deborah Mayer, PhD., University of North Carolina.  More information from ClinicalTrials.Gov.