Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Background: Prostate cancer and its treatment generally have a major impact on men�s life. Patients� suffering from prostate cancer may have emotional instability and who are on treatment for prostate cancer feel inability to fulfill their respective roles in the family, feel insufficient at work and in the activities, they used to enjoy. Aim: To assess the living experiences of men suffering from prostate cancer. Methodology: The research approach adopted for the study was qualitative and design was descriptive phenomenological research design. A total of 10 men suffering from prostate cancer who met the inclusion criteria were selected for the study using criterion sampling technique. The study was conducted in Grecian Super Specialty Cancer Hospital of Mohali, India. The tool used for the study consisted of structured performa regarding demographic variable and open-ended interview guide to assess the living experience of men suffering from prostate cancer. Interview guide consisted of 14 items to explore feelings, expectation and issues of men suffering from prostate cancer. Data was collected till data saturation. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Rigor was maintained using Lincoln and Guba model. A theoretical framework was developed and thematic analysis was done to synthesis the data. Interview of each men were transcribed using Giorgi�s method of analysis. Results: Men explored their experiences with prostate cancer related to physical, mental and emotional aspects, care and support from health care professionals and family and problem faced during and after the diagnosis. A total of 4 themes and 10 subthemes were identified from the analysis of qualitative data. The major themes emerged were corroboration of illness, illness and impact, treatment and expectations and quality of life. Prostate cancer had a noticeable impact on men�s views about prostate cancer as the verbatim revealed that most of the participants worried about confirmation of prostate cancer as they had many questions in their mind that what would happen after the confirmation. Majority of the participants had lots of impact on their health as they became week and their physical health was much affected. Most of the participants had taken good and expected treatment to overcome prostate cancer like radiation therapy, some participants had undergone operation. Some of the participants reported that they had confronted other illness too such as psychological stress, anxiety and side effects of chemotherapy. Conclusion: The study concluded that most of the participants expressed that the prostate cancer can affect their health and also stated that they were afraid about the consequences but participants showed positive attitude towards the management of prostate cancer as they knew very well that it could be treated. Participants expressed that prostate cancer not only affect them but could also affect their family and friends.

Biography

Sudhir Gupta is currently an MSc Nursing student, working on his research project in Mental Health Nursing. His open and constructive theoretical framework developed from qualitative study and constructive ideas will help in improving the living pattern of men suffering from prostate cancer and bring certain changes in mode of treatment based on their living experiences.