Abstract
An increasing number of individuals have become reliant on the internet to obtain health/ disease related information. Online breast cancer center websites may be a useful tool for distributing information on the benefits of physical activity in relation to breast cancer, and can serve to assist breast cancer patients to make positive changes to physical activity behaviour. To date, the physical activity information on accessible websites affiliated with prominent cancer centers in Canada has not been evaluated. The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate the physical activity content and information provided on cancer center websites, which were selected if a radiology department was present. The websites (n=24) were evaluated by two raters based on the eEurope 2002: Quality Criteria for Health related websites and CALO-RE taxonomy of behaviour change techniques (BCTs). Inter-rater reliability for evaluation of websites was 87%. Cancer center websites contained an average of 6.88 BCTs. Overall, the majority of cancer center websites (n= 21) offered some form of physical activity information. The most frequently published BCTs included; provide information about consequences in general (92%), goal setting (50%) and set graded tasks (50%). Based on these findings, Canadian cancer center websites should be improved for information content to help breast cancer patients and clinicians understand the well-known benefits of physical activity and offer strategies for improving healthy participation. These results provide preliminary evidence that knowledge translation efforts should be emphasized to help the nearly 90% of breast cancer survivors who are currently inactive.
