Health promotion and illness demotion at prostate cancer support groups

Although health promotion programs can positively influence health practices, men typically react to symptoms, rather than maintain their health, and are more likely to deny than discuss illness-related issues. Prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) provide an intriguing exception to these practices, in that men routinely discuss ordinarily private illness experiences and engage with self-health. This article draws on individual interview data from 52 men, and participant observations conducted at the meetings of 15 groups in British Columbia, Canada to provide insights to how groups simultaneously facilitate health promotion and illness demotion. The study findings reveal how an environment conducive to men's talk was established to normalize prostate cancer and promote the individual and collective health of group members. From a gendered perspective, men both disrupted and embodied dominant ideals of masculinity in how they engaged with their health at PCSGs.