TABLE 4.

Selected quotes from participant and health care provider interviews.

Theme Subtheme	Representative quote(s)
Intervention Feasibility
Appropriateness of the intervention	“So I followed the exercises [prescribed as part of the prehabilitation intervention] in addition to the ones I was already going to do and I mean they were easy exercises…anyone could have done them, which made it really great for any women of any age at any physical level.” [ID01]
	“Those [resistance bands] were fun! I’ve never used them before, and they were easy to use. I actually went away for a few days during the period before the surgery and it was great because I could stick them in a suitcase.” [ID28]
Barriers and facilitators to participation	Barriers: “Weather would dictate walking. I was doing some rebounding back then as well, so there were no barriers there in my house…so other than weather for getting outside, nothing.” [ID20] Facilitators: “What I found most helpful was doing a run through with you of them [exercises] the first time out, making sure you’re doing them correctly.” [ID24] “That checklist [exercise log] recommended how many times a week to do each activity and it gave me that motivation to check that off and I brought that back to you. It held me accountable to keep doing the exercise…” [ID16]
Target population	“I actually have said to many nurses and doctors after that it [prehabilitation] should be something that is mandatory and should be implemented at the hospital for every person going through the surgery.” [ID24]
	“I think it’s valuable for everyone. I just think it’s such an overwhelming time for patients, so when we present it as an option, I totally get why some women aren’t interested but I think if you present it as this valuable resource, it’s going to be really helpful for you recovery.” [HCP1]
Participants’ Experiences
Intervention design preferences
Multimodal care	“Those things [diet, psychological wellbeing] do go hand-in-hand. You know, the diet and exercise are key things around making a successful recovery, so if there was a way to engage that…that might be helpful to other patients as well.” [ID24]
Need for an exercise professional	“When you’re having very specific surgery, where someone is actually familiar with it, it’s not like I can call up a physio center and say, ‘oh can you help me because these problems.’ You need to have someone who specializes and recognizes what the issues are…” [ID24].
	“I think it would be a good idea to do it [exercise training] in person maybe, but I’m not sure I would have been able to make every appointment…I think it might be a nice idea but I think you would find some scheduling challenges for people.” [ID28]
Perceived benefit	“…she actually did DIEP breast reconstruction, which is a huge surgery. By the next day she was able to lift her arms over her head, which for that population of patients, that takes months to do after surgery. So, she had said it was really because of the prehabilitation.” [HCP2]
	“I really feel like I benefited a lot from it because it caught me in that time just after diagnosis when things were pretty scary and pretty awful and I felt like it was one of the key pieces of my plan for positivity during this whole thing, because it was setting a tone for recovery.” [ID20]
Health behavior change	“I feel like being in programs like this [post-treatment rehabilitation], which started with the prehab, kept a momentum going. And, I’m not completely on my own yet, but it’s great to have these kinds of programs at my disposal and it’s helping me to stay active. I think prehab was the one to get that rolling.” [ID16]
Regaining control	“I think for just the average person, it [prehabilitation] shares a lot of knowledge and I think knowledge is power and it gives someone the ability to take things into their own hands, where a lot of their control and power is being taken away from them.” [ID01]
Prehabilitation as education	“You get some limited guidance from the surgeon and nurse about stretching and mobility exercises after the surgery, but it’s not a lot. There was one group class and it’s at a time when I probably wasn’t that focused – the day before surgery – wasn’t really focused on exercises. So, I thought it was helpful that I had the contact with you because it helped me figure out what I should do and that I should keep going.” [ID28]