Edinburgh Napier University

  There is an emerging evidence base for the value of physical and psychosocial interventions for people with cancer around the time of diagnosis and first treatment. Recent systematic reviews have identified that prehabilitation has the potential to provide several benefits for patients including improvement in psychosocial outcomes. Preparing the patient psychologically for treatment can enhance feelings of control, reduce anxiety and increase patient satisfaction post-treatment as well as facilitating early discharge. As such, there has been increasing research interest examining the efficacy of perioperative interventions on psychological outcomes in people affected by cancer. The success of prehabilitation programmes depends on changing several aspects of patients’ behaviour, including attendance at, engagement with and adherence to the behavioural (e.g. exercise, nutrition) and psychological components of prehabilitation. As a result, the role of psychology in prehabilitation is not limited to promotion of psychological wellbeing, but also in the design and implementation of each component of a prehabilitation programme to promote and sustain behaviour change. In 2019, an international group of topic experts attended and worked collaboratively within topic groups to develop principles and guidance for prehabilitation. This manuscript provides a summary of the evidence from that review, specifically exploring psychological support and behaviour change interventions during the perioperative period for people with a cancer diagnosis.