The SOAR Study: a Study of Geriatric Assessment and Exercise for Older Adults and Their Support Person (SOAR)

April 27, 2026 updated by: Martine Puts

Supporting Older Adults With Cancer and Their Support Person Through Geriatric Assessment and Remote Exercise and Education: the SOAR Study

Phase 2 randomized controlled study using a waitlist control group. The study also has a single arm pre-post test 12-week chair-based exercise arm for those who have received the geriatric assessment in the older adults with cancer clinic (geriatric oncology clinic).

Study Duration 2.5 years

Study Agent/ Intervention/ Procedure Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and Management (GAM) combined with online chair-based exercise (CBE) and health education for 12 weeks.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The purpose of this randomized clinical trial is to compare the standard of care alone to using a detailed health assessment for older adults followed by a 12 week program of online physical activity and health education (also called the intervention) plus the standard of care. The addition of the detailed health assessment for older adults followed by a 12 week program of online physical activity and health education to the standard of care could benefit older adults with cancer in terms of improving their physical activity, muscle strength, quality of life, and fatigue.

The intervention group will receive a detailed health assessment for older adults followed by a 12- week program of physical activity and health education. During the assessment they will be asked to provide information on current health, mood, weight loss, vision and hearing, memory, fatigue, pain, and a review of medications. Additionally, they will be asked to undergo a few tests that assess walking, grip strength, and balance and complete questionnaires that evaluate quality of life, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and physical function.

Two weekly sessions of group-based exercise (20-40) minutes are conducted via Zoom by a qualified exercise professional. These sessions include aerobic exercise for 20 minutes; resistance training, for 10 minutes; balance training 8 minutes, and flexibility training for 7 minutes. They will receive a weekly check-in to discuss the exercises and progress with the QEP who will adjust the exercises based on tolerance. During the first session of each of the 12- weeks, a video about a health topic by an expert will be shown on Zoom so that they can think about it after the class and prepare questions for the discussion with the expert.

Their support person are invited to participate in this study. We assume that involving support persons in this study, including exercising together, can improve the health and quality of life of the patient and and their support person. If they or their support person do not have a tablet/laptop to join the class, this will be provided along with training on how to use them.

The control group will receive usual care and the option to receive the intervention after 12 weeks.

May 2024. We have added a single pre-post test group for patients who receive the geriatric assessment already in the older adults with cancer clinic. These participants will receive the 12 week virtual intervention and will not be randomized. They will be in the study for 12 weeks (no waitlist control period).

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
60

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
        • Sunybrook Health Sciences Centre, Odette Cancer Centre
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G2C4
        • Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

66 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Aged 65+ years.
  2. Diagnosed with lung, gastrointestinal (GI) , breast, Gynecologic or Genitourinary (GU) cancer or lymphoma who are referred for chemotherapy or immunotherapy and have not received > 4 weeks of systemic treatment.

4) Have a physician estimated life expectancy of >6 months. 5) Be physically inactive (no more than 90 min moderate to vigorous activity per week as per GLTEQ and do not currently meet the recommended physical activity volume of 90 min of aerobic exercise/week).

6) Able to speak and understand English. 7) Able to give informed consent. 8) Are considered safe to participate in the weekly classes as per their treating oncologist.

Eligible support persons are:

  1. Identified by the older adult as their support person.
  2. Aged 18 years and over.
  3. Able to speak and understand English.
  4. Able to give informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Severe neuropsychiatric abnormalities (e.g., moderate-severe dementia) per the treating physician; and
  2. Clinic visit with a geriatrician in the previous 12 months (they have already received part of the intervention).
  3. Chest tube in-situ.

Exclusion criteria support person:

Not able to give informed consent.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: Intervention group
geriatric assessment (GAM) and remote exercise and education prior to and during curative/adjuvant or first/second line palliative chemotherapy /immunotherapy or targeted therapy
Behavioral: GAM, exercise, health education
geriatric assessment, exercise and health education
Other Names:
  • Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and Management (GAM) combined with online chair-based exercise (CBE) and health education for 12 weeks.
No Intervention: Waitlist control group
Wait list, receiving standard of care and option to receive intervention after treatment.
Experimental: single arm pre-post test study for participants recruited from geriatric oncology clinic
They will receive the 12 week virtual chair-based exercise and health education intervention except no geriatric assessment
Behavioral: online chair-based exercise combined with health education
online chair-based exercise and health education for 12 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasability of the study
Time Frame: 12 weeks

What is the feasibility of implementation of the study? Feasibility will be measured by recruitment rate which will be the proportion of eligible patients and support persons who agree to enroll in the study, collected from our recruitment log) and measured in percentage with range 0-100. Feasibility of retention will be measured proportion of participants who complete the study data collection, collected from our study log), range 0-100.

Feasibility of data outcome collection will be the percentage of patients who have complete data collection (collected from our study log), range 0-100.

Feasibility of the study will be defined as recruitment of >60% of all eligible older adults; retention of >80% of the dyads; and 3) capture of outcome data of 80% or more.
12 weeks
Acceptability of the intervention and the study
Time Frame: 12 weeks

What is the acceptability of the intervention and study? Acceptability will be measured by 1) adherence to the intervention and 2) satisfaction. Adherence to the intervention= 1) adherence to the geriatric assessment recommendations (collected through chart review) and expressed as percentage of recommendations received and implemented by the patient, range 0-100. 2) Adherence to online classes will be measured through the number of sessions missed as documented in the intervention log.

A 5-item Likert scale satisfaction with the study scale ranging from very satisfied to very unsatisfied and satisfied and very Satisfied= satisified.

Acceptability will be defined as 1) adherence to the intervention of >85% of participants adhering to at least 80% of the classes and recommendations; 2) satisfaction by 80% of participants.
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effect intervention on Physical function
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimate of the intervention on physical function? This will be measured with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). The Short Physical Performance Battery is a test battery comprising of a four-meter gait speed test, a balance test, and 5 timed chair stand tests. The total score ranges between 0-12, and a change of one point is considered the minimal clinically important difference (MCID).
12 weeks
Effect intervention on Grip strength
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of the intervention on grip strength? Grip strength in kilos will be measured with a handheld dynamometer three times in the dominant hand (range 0-80 kg). The maximum score will be used, and the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is 5 kg.
12 weeks
Effect intervention on Life space Mobility
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of the intervention on Life Space Mobility? Life Space Mobility (LSM) will be measured with the University of Alabama Birmingham Study of Aging Life Space Assessment. The Life Space Mobility total score ranges from 0 (bed-bound) to 120 (daily independent out-of-town mobility). The minimal clinically important difference (MCID)is five points.
12 weeks
Effect intervention on Physical Activity
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of the intervention on Physical Activity? Physical activity will be measured with the Godin Leisure time Exercise questionnaire. It asks how many times in the past seven days the participant has done vigorous, moderate, and light exercise for at least 15 min each time, and how much time the participant spent on the exercise, to calculate the total score. A score of 24+ indicates Active, 14 - 23 indicates Moderately Active, and <14 indicates inactive/sedentary
12 weeks
Effect intervention on number of self-reported Falls
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of the intervention on the number of self-reported falls? Self-reported falls will be assessed weekly by a phone call by the RA as well as circumstances of the fall and will be scored as the total number of falls (ranging from 0- 200).
12 weeks
Effect of the intervention on Fatigue
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of the intervention on fatigue? This will be measured with the Pittsburgh Fatigability questionnaire (PFS). The Pittsburgh Fatigability questionnaire measures both physical and mental fatigability. Participants rate their tiredness/exhaustion from 0 ("no fatigue") to 5 ("extreme fatigue") for how they expected or imagined they would feel after completing activities ranging in type and intensity (10 items). Continuous scores for each dimension can range from 0 to 50, with higher scores indicating higher fatigability and scores >25 will be used to indicate severe fatigability.
12 weeks
Effect of the intervention on Quality of life
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the preliminary estimates of intervention on quality of life? This will be measured with the 12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12) . The 12 items are summarized in a physical subscale ranging from 0-100 and a mental health subscale ranging from 0-100.
12 weeks
Effect of the intervention on treatment toxicity
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the effect of the intervention on Treatment toxicity ? This will be abstracted from the medical charts and treatment toxicity will be graded using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Each toxicity is graded from 0-5. The number of toxicities grade 3-5 will be summed.
12 weeks
Effect of the intervention on unplanned healthcare utilization
Time Frame: 12 weeks
What are the effect of the intervention on unplanned Emergency Department (ED) visits and/or hospitalization? This will be abstracted from the medical charts and summarized as the number of unplanned emergency department visits and number of unplanned hospitalizations. Both could range from 0-100.
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Martine Puts

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
University Health Network, Toronto
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Martine Puts, RN PhD, University of Toronto

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
October 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
August 15, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 18, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 22, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 27, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • CTO#4087

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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