Men Moving Forward: Incorporating Sexual Health Of Prostate Cancer Survivors In Exercise Trials

Sexual dysfunction is reported in up to 93% of patients following therapy for prostate cancer (PC), affecting men and their partners. PC is the most commonly occurring cancer in men with the highest incidence among African-Americans (AA). Exercise is a safe and effective adjuvant therapy for cancer survivors to improve sexual and cardiac/vascular health. However, there are limited studies evaluating sexual health in exercise trials, especially in the AA population, post-treatment. Moreover, culturally appropriate and relevant methods for providing integrated sexual health programming are needed. PURPOSE: To showcase the sexual health programming and assessment tools employed in Men Moving Forward (MMF) trial to provide a framework for future studies to incorporate sexual health in survivorship research. METHODS: Enrolled men are randomly assigned to waitlist control or intervention. Assessment tools for sexual health include PROMIS Sexual Function and Satisfaction Full Profile (19 items). Measurements are made at baseline, after 6 months of intervention and 12 months follow up. The intervention consists of group education using guided weekly lifestyle lessons followed by 60 minutes of bodyweight resistance training led by a certified personal trainer with similar demographics as the group, twice weekly. In week 10 of the intervention, men meet with a physician to specifically discuss sexual health, dysfunction and direct a question and answer session. We hypothesize the MMF intervention will have a positive impact on sexual health outcomes. RESULTS: MMF is an ongoing randomized clinical trial to determine the efficacy of a 6-month, evidence-based, community delivered lifestyle intervention (group-based education on diet, disease, sexual health and resistance training exercise) for AA PC survivors. The study is entering the final year of recruitment and measurement followed by analysis of results. CONCLUSION: Inclusion of sexual health programming and outcomes in randomized control trials involving lifestyle interventions are important given the incidence of sexual dysfunction in PC and the impact exercise has on quality of life. The addition of a sexual health questionnaire as an outcome measure is feasible and well received in a community-based trial. Supported by NIH Grant 3RO1CA229546-05S1