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Background: Despite advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment have significantly improved survival rates, patients post-treatment-related health needs are often not adequately addressed by current health services. The aim of the Women's Wellness after Cancer Program (WWACP), which is a digitised multimodal lifestyle intervention, is to enhance health-related quality of life in women previously treated for blood, breast and gynaecological cancers.Methods: A single-blinded, multi-centre randomized controlled trial recruited a total of 351 women within 24 months of completion of chemotherapy (primary or adjuvant) and/or radiotherapy. Women were randomly assigned to either usual care or intervention using computer-generated permuted-block randomisation. The intervention comprises an evidence-based interactive iBook and journal, web interface, and virtual health consultations by an experienced cancer nurse trained in the delivery of the WWACP. The 12 week intervention focuses on evidence-based health education and health promotion after a cancer diagnosis. Components are drawn from the American Cancer Research Institute and the World Cancer Research Fund Guidelines (2010), incorporating promotion of physical activity, good diet, smoking cessation, reduction of alcohol intake, plus strategies for sleep and stress management. The program is based on Bandura's social cognitive theoretical framework. The primary outcome is health-related quality of life, as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G). Secondary outcomes are menopausal symptoms as assessed by Greene Climacteric Scale; physical activity elicited with the Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF); sleep measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; habitual dietary intake monitored with the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ); alcohol intake and tobacco use measured by the Australian Health Survey and anthropometric measures including height, weight and waist-to-hip ratio. All participants were assessed with these measures at baseline (at the start of the intervention), 12 weeks (at completion of the intervention), and 24 weeks (to determine the level of sustained behaviour change). Further, a simultaneous cost-effectiveness evaluation will consider if the WWACP provides value for money and will be reported separately.Discussion: Women treated for blood, breast and gynaecological cancers demonstrate increasingly good survival rates. However, they experience residual health problems that are potentially modifiable through behavioural lifestyle interventions such as the WWACP.Trial Registration: The protocol for this study was registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, Trial ID: ACTRN12614000800628 , July 28, 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the personal experience of the author who had been employed as a Youth Arts Manager in a small, desert town in the Northern Territory. In her research honours study during the project for which she was engaged, she aimed to understand the tensions she experienced managing this partnership. Now, five years later, she reconsidered the experience and, placing the concept of culture shock at the forefront of her perspective, came to see the experience in a new light. Kate proposes that understanding protocols is a process embodiment that may be affected by the experience of culture shock, and secondly, that creative processes can be reduced neither to process nor product. Rather, with a clear understanding of aims and objectives as they relate to context, from community development can fruitful artistic partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Sleep disturbance in midlife women has been studied extensively, although less is known about sleep after menopause. This study examined the relative impact of sociodemographics, modifiable lifestyle factors, and health status on sleep disturbance in postmenopausal women from Queensland, Australia. Methods: The longitudinal Healthy Aging of Women (HOW) Study examines health-related quality of life (HRQOL measured by the 12-item Short Form [SF-12®] survey [Medical Outcomes Trust, Hanover, CA]); chronic illness; modifiable lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking; and sleep disturbance (General Sleep Disturbance Scale [GSDS] (Lee, San Francisco, CA) ≥43 represents poor sleep) in midlife and older women from low- and high-socioeconomic rural and urban areas of South East Queensland, Australia. This article presents cross-sectional data from the 322 women, aged 60-70 years, participating in the HOW study in 2011. Results: For women in this study, sleep disturbance was relatively common, with 23% ( n=83) reporting poor sleeping (GSDS ≥43). Sleep-disturbance scores were strongly correlated with being unemployed or on a disability support pension (β=18.69, p<0.01), sedentary lifestyle (β=23.84, p<0.01), and lower mental (β=−0.60, p<0.01) and physical HRQOL scores (β=−0.32, p=0.01), and these variables explained almost one-third of variance in sleep-disturbance scores (ηρ2=29%). Conclusions: Multivariable analysis revealed that sleep disturbance was correlated with physical and mental HRQOL, disability, and sedentary lifestyle but not other lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics. It may be, however, that modifiable lifestyle factors may indirectly impact sleep by influencing health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]