Dr Amy Dennett MACP, a postdoctoral researcher and physiotherapist based at Eastern Health in Box Hill, has worked in the field for almost 15 years.

She quickly gained an interest in research, eventually focusing on oncology rehabilitation and physical activity, which became the subject of her PhD in 2018.

Physiotherapy for cancer rehabilitation is still something of an emerging field.

‘When I was going through as an undergrad, we all knew what cardio and pulmonary rehab were about but we did maybe one lecture on oncology or if you were lucky you did a placement with an acute focus,’ says Amy.

‘Physio has played a major role in lymphoedema management, for example, for a long time but in terms of physical activity and other ways of helping people with cancer, the shift has been a lot more recent.’

Amy’s research project is titled ‘PhysioCaRe: upskilling physiotherapists to deliver cancer rehabilitation’.

The first stage will build on her previous work, a co-designed cancer exercise toolkit that received a Pat Cosh Trust grant in 2020.

The second stage involves the delivery of two workshops, both over two days, to physiotherapists working in public and private practices, followed by a period of evaluation and the creation of a registry of providers.

The training package will be targeted at those with a foundational to intermediate level of knowledge of exercise-based cancer rehabilitation but it could be used by physiotherapists at all stages of their careers.

‘We’ll be piloting a study with physios going through the training package to see the effect on their knowledge, skills and confidence as well as their evidence-based practice behaviours,’ says Amy.

‘Once they’ve done the course, we can see if they actually put the knowledge into practice and treat people with cancer.’

The project will have tangible benefits for physiotherapists and will significantly affect the quality of care they can offer their patients with cancer.

‘We hope that a sustainable training program, run on a regular basis, will improve access to physiotherapy for people with cancer,’ Amy says.

‘With a registry of providers, we can also track how many of the physios doing the training are then setting up programs, which we can add to our existing toolkit with a location map so people know how to find these highly skilled practitioners.

The range of specialists providing care to people with cancer is now very broad.

‘There are more than 500,000 five-year cancer survivors in Australia so there’s room for physiotherapists to provide care as well.’ says Amy.

‘There’s growing respect within the wider medical oncology community for the supportive care that comes from physiotherapy.

'And sometimes physios don’t know what they don’t know and may actually have more relevant expertise related to management of cancer than they think.’

The value of the Pat Cosh Trust grant to Amy’s research is substantial, she says.

‘Without the grant, I wouldn’t have been able to go down this path as soon as I have and in such a robust way.

'Education of physios in oncology is something I’m very passionate about.

'You need funding and resources to design a training course well and that’s what the grant has allowed us to do.’

Contact Dr Amy Dennett if you’re interested in this project.