Nelson Kayleigh, Bennett Paul, Rance Jaynie
College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2019 Dec 12;13:989. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2019.989. eCollection 2019.
To explore how men and their partners utilise social support in the first 12 months following a localised prostate cancer diagnosis.
A longitudinal qualitative design.
Eighteen couples were recruited from two outpatient clinics following a localised prostate cancer diagnosis. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews at three time-points following diagnosis. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Support networks for couples became smaller as time progressed. Stigma was seen to have a role in men's disclosure decisions. Partners generally provided higher levels of support than they received back. By Time 3, men who had previously attended social support groups rejoined to seek informational and emotional support. For partners, there appeared to be a fine line between disclosing their true feelings and protecting their partner, and they appeared to struggle to access meaningful emotional support and accept instrumental support from trusted others.
The findings expand our understanding of the support between couples in the months following diagnosis. Social support groups were highlighted as an important source of support. Further research is now needed to help identify which couples may benefit from professional encouragement to attend these groups and which couples may benefit from alternative support provision.
探讨男性及其伴侣在局部前列腺癌诊断后的头12个月中如何利用社会支持。
纵向定性设计。
从两家门诊诊所招募了18对夫妇，他们均被诊断为局部前列腺癌。参与者在诊断后的三个时间点参加了半结构化访谈。采用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
随着时间的推移，夫妇的支持网络变小。耻辱感在男性的披露决定中起作用。伴侣通常提供的支持水平高于他们得到的回报。到第三个时间点，之前参加过社会支持小组的男性重新加入以寻求信息和情感支持。对于伴侣来说，在披露真实感受和保护伴侣之间似乎存在一条细线，而且他们似乎难以获得有意义的情感支持并接受来自可信赖他人的工具性支持。
这些发现扩展了我们对诊断后数月夫妇间支持的理解。社会支持小组被强调为重要的支持来源。现在需要进一步研究，以帮助确定哪些夫妇可能受益于参加这些小组的专业鼓励，以及哪些夫妇可能受益于其他支持方式。
