Successful Retention Planning in Cancer Intervention Trials

Healthy diet, physical activity and weight control are central to current recommendations for cancer survivorship. Several intervention studies have been conducted to support survivors in maintaing these lifestyle goals with mixed results (American Cancer Society). Currently, there is limited research on retention strategies used in lifestyle intervention trials among cancer survivors. The purpose of this study is to complete a systematic review that describes and evaluates retention techniques employed in published trials. The results are intended to provide researchers with a useful resource of current and successful retention strategies. Retention of survivors in lifestyle intervention trials are essential for assuring the integrity of the hypothesis testing.