What couples say about their recovery of sexual intimacy after prostatectomy: toward the development of a conceptual model of couples' sexual recovery after surgery for prostate cancer.

INTRODUCTION

Interventions designed to help couples recover sexual intimacy after prostatectomy have not been guided by a comprehensive conceptual model.

AIM

We examined a proposed biopsychosocial conceptual model of couples' sexual recovery that included functional, psychological, and relational aspects of sexuality, surgery-related sexual losses, and grief and mourning as recovery process.

METHODS

We interviewed 20 couples preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. between 2010 and 2012. Interviews were analyzed with Analytic Induction qualitative methodology, using NVivo software. Paired t-tests described functional assessment data. Study findings led to a revised conceptual model.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Couples' experiences were assessed through semi-structured interviews; male participants' sexual function was assessed with the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite and female participants' sexual function with the Female Sexual Function Index.

RESULTS

Preoperatively, 30% of men had erectile dysfunction (ED) and 84% of partners were postmenopausal. All valued sexual recovery, but worried about cancer spread and surgery side effects. Faith in themselves and their surgeons led 90% of couples to overestimate erectile recovery. Postoperatively, most men had ED and lost confidence. Couples' sexual activity decreased. Couples reported feeling loss and grief: cancer diagnosis was the first loss, followed by surgery-related sexual losses. Couples' engagement in intentional sex, patients' acceptance of erectile aids, and partners' interest in sex aided the recovery of couples' sexual intimacy recovery. Unselfconscious sex, not returning to erectile function baseline, was seen as the end point. Survey findings documented participants' sexual function losses, confirming qualitative findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Couples' sexual recovery requires addressing sexual function, feelings about losses, and relationship simultaneously. Perioperative education should emphasize the roles of nerve damage in ED and grief and mourning in sexual recovery.