Effect of peer mentoring on physical activity in patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To systematically examine the effect of peer mentoring applied to patients with cancer on physical activity.

DESIGN

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted as a result of reviewing randomised controlled trials. No year limitation was set, and studies published in English were included in the study. Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCOhost/CINAHL Complete, Springer Link, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and Ovid databases were searched up to January 2022. The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3 software was used to analyse the meta-analysis data. PRISMA was employed. The Cochrane Collaboration tool was evaluated by two independent researchers.

RESULTS

Six studies with a total of 1.551 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that peer mentoring had positive medium effects on the physical activity process (95% Cl = 0.15 to 0.49, p < .001 and Hedge's g = 0.322). The results of the sensitivity analysis confirmed the reliability of the outcome measures.

CONCLUSIONS

Peer mentoring was found to have positive effects on improving the level of physical activity in patients with cancer. The use of peer mentoring can offer a holistic perspective by improving the quality and functional status of care.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Peer mentoring can be beneficial in terms of being a comfortable method and improving the physical activity levels of patients. In addition, health professionals' awareness of peer mentoring in terms of the provision of holistic care will increase.