Prostate cancer is the second leading killer of men, claiming more than 40,000 lives annually. The purpose of this study is to describe how prostate cancer and its treatment affects the health-related quality of life, overall health status, and identity of men during the 18 months following their initial diagnosis. The sample will consist of 185 prostate cancer patients, with 37 in each of five treatment groups, who are scheduled to receive one of the following types of treatment at a medical center in the southwestern United State: a) no treatment or watchful waiting, b) surgery, c) radiation therapy, d) proton-beam therapy, or e) a combination of c and d, mixed beam therapy. After the patients have discussed their diagnosis and treatment strategies with their physician, they will be invited to participate in the study. After signing an informed consent, they will be given a questionnaire packet that contains the following measures: a) health status, b) health-related quality of life, incidence of prostate treatment-specific symptoms, d) sex-role identify, and e) the importance of sex-role identity. The participants will be contacted again at six, twelve, and eighteen months by mail and telephone to complete the same set of questionnaires. Undergraduate student research assistants will assist with contacting the participants, performing data management, and initiating appropriate follow-up. Fifteen men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and treated 12 to 18 months previously will be invited to participate in an in-depth interview focused on how living with prostate cancer and its treatment has affected their identity as men. The content of the interview data will be analyzed for emergent categories and common themes. Analysis strategies for the quantitative data will include analysis of covariance and multiple analysis of variance. A series of regression equations will be used to determine if the importance men place on their sex-role identify mediates the relationship between their masculine sex-role identity, health-related quality of life, and overall health status.
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| Galbraith, M E; Ramirez, J M; Pedro, L W (2001) Quality of life, health outcomes, and identity for patients with prostate cancer in five different treatment groups. Oncol Nurs Forum 28:551-60 |
