Table 2.

Barriers to exercise programme

	Subtheme		Meaningful quotes	Participants
Physical aspects	Nausea and vomiting	1	Treatment made me lethargic and I vomited so often, it was impossible to exercise. I just hope the nausea gets better. That’s all I think about.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
	Sore throat	2	Stomatitis and sore throat kept me from exercising regularly. The pain made me think that I would rather die.	1, 3, 4, 5, 6
	Reduced appetite	3	Meal times are the most frightening—07:00, 12:00 and 18:00. I am so afraid of meal times because I puke every time I eat. It is uncontrollable.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
	Lack of energy/fatigue	4	I don’t think I can handle exercise, because I don’t have the energy—no energy at all. I was on an intravenous medication for 25 days.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Psychological aspects	Decreased willpower	5	I have no desire to exercise and actually I don’t feel like doing anything. I know that I should be able to handle exercise, but don’t want to.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
	Anxiety due to isolated life	6	I’m just stuck here, so I’m going crazy. It’s not because of cancer, but because it is frustrating that I don’t feel stable. I am so frustrated.	1, 2, 4, 5
Environmental aspects	Negative stories from other patients	7	I heard that he doesn’t like exercise too.	1, 2, 4
	No encouragement from oncologist	8	If the oncologist had talked about the benefits of exercise, I would have participated more. It would have been good if the oncologists had recommended exercise when I was first admitted to the hospital.	1, 2, 4, 5