Impact of Multimodal Telerehabilitation in Rural Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer

People with prostate cancer may have a decreased quality of life due to the cancer itself and due to a lifesaving cancer treatment. Physical therapy, including regular exercise, helps patients with cancer to reduce disease symptoms and improve their quality of life. However, cancer rehabilitation programs in rural areas are not readily available and may require constant travel and significant financial resources, which may limit access to these services on a continuous basis.

Technology can allow patients residing in rural areas to exercise at home under the supervision of their rehabilitation team. However, it is unclear how effective this approach is. This research team will conduct a clinical trial in which half of the randomly chosen participants receiving hormonal prostate cancer therapy will use this new technology to exercise at home. Another half - will exercise at home without this new technology. After six months, the study will compare the quality of life and cancer symptoms in these two groups.

The investigators hope that this study will demonstrate that the patients who were helped by the new technology to exercise at home will have better fitness, fewer symptoms, and better quality of life. If the study demonstrates this in this project, other patients with cancer residing in rural areas will be able to take advantage of this technology. This approach can be extended to people with different diseases who have difficulties accessing medical care in rural areas to undergo required physical, cognitive, and occupational rehabilitation, and improve their quality of life.