Men's perspectives on the impact of prostate cancer: implications for oncology nurses

To describe the perspectives of men with recurrent prostate cancer regarding their experiences with the disease, its impact, and the help they received and to compare these individuals to men without recurrent prostate cancer.

Cross-sectional survey.

Physicians' offices and prostate cancer self-help groups in Canada.

A convenience sample of 120 men with recurrent prostate cancer and 845 men without recurrent disease.

A survey instrument was developed following in-depth interviews with men living with prostate cancer. The men received survey packages from their physicians or through a self-help group, completed the instrument at home, and returned it in a prestamped addressed envelope.

Impact on lifestyle, satisfaction with communication, importance of information, satisfaction with information received, problems experienced, and assistance received for problems.

Significant differences related to a number of factors were found between the men with recurrent prostate cancer and those without recurrent disease. A large number of those with recurrent disease experienced problems with side effects, anger, and pain and received help for their pain; experienced a negative impact on leisure time and on mental health; experienced difficulty talking with healthcare professionals; and felt the need to talk with someone about their cancer. Many of the men with recurrent disease were dissatisfied with the information they received about their medical condition and possible side effects.

Men with prostate cancer experience both physical and psychosocial difficulties. Many perceive that they are not receiving adequate help for these difficulties. Future research is needed to increase understanding of how men are managing the impact of prostate cancer and what types of interventions would be most useful.

Findings emphasize the need for nurses to be certain that they are conducting broad-based assessments of patients with prostate cancer throughout the illness experience. Nurses need to inform patients about services available to assist them, help patients understand the emotional responses to illness, and provide opportunities for patients to talk about the illness and its impact.