Table 3 Demographic comparison of participants who completed the study and participants who withdrew prior to 20-week data collection

Characteristic

N

%

N

%

Study group

0.009*

 -Intervention

45

48.9

30

73.2

 -Control

47

51.1

11

26.8

Age, years, Mean (SD)

0.960

Female gender

72

78.3

31

75.6

0.736

Married/de facto

67

72.8

26

65.0

0.365

Completed post-school qualifications

64

69.6

31

79.5

0.245

Employed (full-time or part-time)

40

43.5

17

43.6

0.991

Weekly family income

0.178

 -Less than $499

12

13.2

11

27.5

 -$500–$1000

24

26.4

6

15.0

 -More than $1000

28

30.8

11

27.5

 -Prefer not to answer

27

29.7

12

30.0

Number of co-morbidities (ever or current)

0.073

 -0

24

26.1

5

12.2

 -1 or more

68

73.9

36

87.8

Types of co-morbidities^a

 -Musculoskeletal disorders

33

36.3

15

38.5

0.834

 -Mental health problems

25

27.5

17

43.6

0.086

 -Arthritis

29

31.9

21

53.8

0.028*

 -High blood pressure

24

26.4

12

30.8

0.608

 -High cholesterol

33

36.3

11

28.2

0.396

Cancer survivor status

0.535

 -Cancer survivor

65

70.7

31

77.5

 -Carer

19

20.7

5

12.5

 -Both cancer survivor and carer

8

8.7

4

10.0

Relationship to cancer survivor:

 -Spouse/partner

17

63.0

6

66.7

0.397

Cancer type^a

 -Breast

47

64.4

17

48.6

0.118

 -Prostate

8

11.0

6

17.1

0.375

 -Other: colorectal, melanoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Leukaemia, ovarian, thyroid, lung.

17

23.2

7

20.0

Time since diagnosis, months, Mean (SD)

0.293

Ever received the following cancer treatments^a

 -Surgery

69

94.5

31

91.2

0.677

 -Chemotherapy

49

71.0

24

82.8

0.431

 -Radiotherapy

42

64.6

20

69.0

0.759

 -Hormone treatment

35

70.0

15

62.5

0.632

Cancer in remission

54

77.1

26

81.3

0.356

BMI category (kg/m²)

0.468

 -Less than 25

31

34.4

16

43.2

 -25–30

36

40.0

14

37.8

 -30 and above

23

25.6

7

18.9