Investigating the effects of long-term exercise programs on psychophysiological changes in patients with colon cancer

This study, which was planned for investigating the effects of long-term exercise programs on psychophysiological changes in patients with colon cancer in follow-up stage, included male and female sedentary individuals and patients in follow-up stage between 18 and 65 years of age, who were diagnosed with early stage (stages 1 to 3) colon cancer and went through operation in Dokuz Eylül University, Medical Faculty Hospital, Department of Medical Oncology. At the beginning of this study, all participants were required to fill out the questionnaires in the test protocol, and to participate in physical fitness tests. At the beginning of this study, the participants were divided into two groups as sedentary individuals and the entreated colon cancer patients in the follow-up stage. Healthy sedentary individuals were the healthy group, and they completed the psychophysiological tests prepared for them without participating in any other exercise programs throughout this study. The entreated cancer patients were divided into two groups as control and the exercise group in accordance with the computer-based "random number" chart. The patients in second control group, which included the entreated colon cancer patients in the follow-up stage, did not take place in any exercise programs, they only participated in psychophysiological tests stated in the protocol. In addition to these test protocols, the exercise group had practiced the exercises programmed by sports scientists and physicians under the care of responsible individuals and/or their family members for four months. All participants filled out the questionnaires in the test protocols at the beginning of the study, in the second month (at the end of 8th week), and at the end of the fourth month, and participated in physical fitness tests. The study was finalized by the end of the fourth month, following the final tests. Our study was planned as a randomized single-blind study, the tests and statistical analyses were performed by individual(s), who were not acquainted with the participants, did not have any information about them, and who did not have any information about the groups the participants were included. The significance level of the study was determined as 0.05, and statistical analyses were performed via IBM SPSS v22.0 program. Keywords: Exercise, cancer, psychophysiological tests.