A Holistic Intervention Approach to Maximize Quality of Life for Cancer Survivors

There are many components to defining a cancer survivor's true quality of life. Quality of life (QOL) can be conceptualized as the maximum realization of an individual's potential outcomes of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects defining a human being. These levels of optimization are often limited within certain bounds by a survivor's medical history such as the cancer experience; functional capacities; dietary choices, connectedness and cognitive processing, e.g. perceptions about life situations such as stressors. Often, in intervention studies and within traditional Western medicine practice, focus on optimizing outcomes for cancer survivors is often "siloed", overly focusing on only one aspect of QOL and not accounting for improving other equally important aspects of QOL. A holistic approach, tailored to the unique aspects for that particular survivor, is needed to maximize the individuals overall QOL. Precision scientific data needs to be collected, as well as the cancer survivor's self-report perceptions (qualitative) to truly understand the individual's level of QOL. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative approaches are needed within a holistic approach. Many interventions' impact wanes when complete. Often those individuals that participated revert to previous maladaptive health behaviors. This can occur partly from a lack of a sense of ownership. Therefore, a holistic, structured approach is urgently needed, presented in a manner to enhance individual efficacy that enhances ownership. Strategies should also engage the expanded cancer survivor community thereby improving the health of the general cancer population, helping reduce existing cancer-related health disparities, and eliminating unnecessary costs on an already seriously strained public health system. Here the investigators propose a 16-week pilot project to prove the feasibility and initial efficacy of such a holistic approach to optimize outcomes for the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of QOL as measured with standard instrumentation and qualitative self-report for 30 adult cancer survivors in the San Antonio, Texas area. The investigators will conduct pre, post and a six-month follow-up assessment for QOL.