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Introduction: Physical activity participation amongst cancer survivors is low. This potent modifiable host factor has been disregarded in the cancer treatment plan for decades, despite its role in cancer control. The purpose of this study was to explore perception of physical activity among women with breast cancer., Methods: Focus group with purposive sampling methods were conducted on women at different cancer trajectory - ie. completed treatment (n = 6) and undergoing treatment (n = 8). The taped discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Concepts were identified as unique or shared between the two groups, and ordered into subcategories., Results and Discussion: Three key categories on barriers to exercise; facilitator/motivator towards exercise; and myths around exercise were highlighted. There were more myths and reservations about physical activity in the UT (undergoing treatment) group, than in the CT (completed-treatment) group. Facilitators included positive experience from physical activity engagement, easy-access to facility, and good social support., Conclusions: Although both groups expressed difficulties in engaging in physical activity, the newly diagnosed have more negative perception of physical activity engagement. Both groups did not note the significant role of physical activity and cancer prevention/ recurrence, which is a key strategy to promote the uptake of exercise and acceptance of active lifestyle for cancer survivors. Health care clinicians like occupational therapists need to play greater public health role in educating and counseling lifestyle redesign for survivors living with cancer.

Background: Many cancer survivors are still not active enough to reap the benefits of physical activity. This study aimed to explore the correlation between perceived barriers and participation in exercise among multi- ethnic Malaysian women with breast cancer., Methods: A cross-sectional study using a pre-post questionnaire and a media-clip as a cancer control strategy was conducted on a random sample of women with breast cancer. The tools were structured questionnaires to collect socio-medical demographic and physical activity data (e.g. barriers, exercise self-efficacy)., Results: A statistically significant relationship between level of physical activity before and after diagnosis of breast cancer (n=51, χ2=70.14, p<0.01) was found, whereby participants who rated more hours of physical activity before diagnosis were likely to persevere with exercise after diagnosis, r(49)=0.73, p<01. Some 76.5% of women engaged in low level activity and 23.5% of the participants engaged in moderate level of physical activity., Conclusions: Despite the many benefits of physical activity, the majority of survivors in this study were not found to be physically active, and did not even consciously think of exercise participation. Lack of time is the main barrier amongst those survivors who are predominantly 40-50 year old housewives juggling with household chores, childcare and/or job commitments. Public health messages stressing that short bouts of exercise or some exercise are better than no exercise needs to be emphasised consistently.

The authors investigated the strategic component (i.e., elaboration and organization of episodic features) and the associative component (i.e., binding processes) of episodic memory and their interactions in 4 age groups (10-12, 13-15, 20-25, and 70-75 years of age). On the basis of behavioral and neural evidence, the authors hypothesized that the two components are functionally related but follow different life-span gradients. In a fully crossed design, age differences in recognition memory for single words versus word pairs (associative demand manipulation) were examined under instructions that emphasized item, pair, or elaborative-pair encoding (strategy manipulation). As predicted, the results showed that the strategic and associative components follow different life-span trajectories. Relative to younger adults, children's difficulties in episodic memory primarily reflected lower levels of strategic functioning. In contrast, older adults showed impairments in both strategic and associative components. The authors conclude that the comparison of strategic and associative components of episodic memory across the life span helps to delineate the two components' unique and interactive contributions to episodic memory performance.