Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

Australian GP perspectives on preventing and managing weight gain in breast cancer survivorship (145097)

Lisa Hanlon 1 , Carolyn Ee 2 , Kate McBride 3 , Bogda Koczwara 4 , Cindy Tan 5 6 , Jillian Tay 7 , Christine Mitchell 8
  1. National Institute for Complementary Medicine, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW, Australia
  2. Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  3. School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW, Australia
  4. Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  7. Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  8. N/A

Aims
To explore Australian GP perspectives on their role in preventing and managing weight gain among breast cancer survivors and identify barriers and enablers to weight management within routine primary care.

Methods
A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 14 GPs practicing in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia.  Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflective thematic analysis. Themes were subsequently mapped to domains and constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to interpret the findings within an implementation science framework.

Results
Fourteen GPs (13 female, 1 male) from metropolitan (10), regional (3) and rural (1) Australia participated. Most participants recognised weight management as an important component of breast cancer survivorship care but reported that it was often overshadowed by surveillance for recurrence and management of treatment-related side effects. Participants commonly described fragmented care pathways, limited communication between oncology and primary care, inadequate funding, workforce constraints and inequitable access to allied health services as key barriers to delivering timely and coordinated weight gain prevention and management support. Many participants identified clearly defined shared-care pathways, survivorship care plans, improved communication, care coordination, survivorship-specific resources and multidisciplinary collaboration as important enablers. Participants consistently described general practice as well placed to provide longitudinal weight management support, however, they highlighted that fragmented care pathways and limited system-level support and infrastructure constrained implementation in routine general practice.

Conclusions
The findings identify key implementation barriers and enablers to embedding weight gain prevention and management into existing breast cancer survivorship care. Strengthening communication between oncology, general practice and allied health, alongside clearly defined referral pathways, survivorship care planning and care coordination, may better support GPs to deliver longitudinal, evidence-informed weight gain prevention and management breast cancer survivors.