Related Experiment Videos
Qualitative thematic analysis of online forum discussions on post-radiation prostate cancer survivorship
Umar Ghaffar1, Architha Sudhakar1, Nizar Hakam1
1Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Objectives:
To utilize online forums as a source of unprompted patient experiences in understanding the impacts of radiotherapy on patients with prostate cancer.
Materials And Methods:
Three online forums: patient.info, Cancer Survivor Network (CSN), and CancerResearchUK were identified by a structured keyword search on Google and searched for relevant posts. Qualitative thematic analysis using grounded-theory principles was performed on publicly available online forum posts using Dedoose (Los Angeles, CA).
Results:
One hundred fifty-seven posts by 91 unique users were analyzed. The most frequently mentioned pelvic and abdominal adverse effects were "increased urine frequency" (n = 31) and "radiation-induced GI tract inflammation" (n = 28) respectively. The majority of posts showed that abdominal and pelvic adverse effects occurred after radiation treatment (n = 154) rather than during radiation treatment (n = 26). Most posts showed that patient's symptoms were ongoing (n = 68) as opposed to resolving with (n = 35) or without (n = 25) treatment.
Conclusions:
Online forums were frequently utilized by post-radiation prostate cancer survivors to discuss their experiences and seek peer support. This study provides physicians a deeper understanding about morbidity of post-radiation prostate cancer patients through their own narrative and highlights principal issues resonating among this patient population.
Implications For Cancer Survivors:
For cancer survivors, these findings may facilitate more informed discussions with healthcare providers, improve awareness of potential treatment-related challenges, and underscore the value of peer support communities in survivorship care.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Treatment Resistant Cancers
Cancer Survival Analysis
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...