Cancer-related chronic pain remains as a big challenge for cancer survivors, which significantly affects the quality of life of cancer survivors. Evidence suggests that pain is well managed through combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. Among all non-pharmacological interventions, breathing exercise (BE) might have potential effect for chronic pain management in cancer survivors, but the evidence is sparse in current literature. Therefore, this study will follow the Medical Research Council Framework for Developing and Evaluating Complex intervention (the MRC Framework) to develop an evidence-based BE protocol to help with cancer-related chronic pain management in breast cancer survivors. The first two phases of the MRC Framework will be included in this study. In the first phase, an evidence-based method will be utilized to develop the BE intervention protocol. In the second phase, a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to examine the feasibility of study and the acceptability of the BE intervention by the participants as well as to preliminarily assess the effect of the BE on chronic pain management in breast cancer survivors. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted after the RCT to explore participants' experiences of participating in the study and practicing the BE.
The study will follow the MRC Framework to develop an evidence-based BE intervention protocol to help breast cancer survivors with better management of cancer-related chronic pain.