Biopsychosocial Experiences of Men Living With Prostate Cancer

Abstract

The attention men‘s health is receiving recently, specifically, prostate cancer, can be largely attributed to the World Health Organisation‘s efforts to create awareness and invest in research on prostate diseases. Of all the prostate diseases, prostate cancer seemed to have the highest incidence rate and these patients are plagued with several issues from the moment of diagnosis. Meanwhile, a myriad of studies on prostate cancer have largely focused on experiences of the spouses of the men with prostate cancer and creating awareness of the disease, with little or no attention on the experiences of men living with prostate cancer in Ghana. This research therefore explored the biopsychosocial experiences of men living with prostate cancer using the phenomenological research design. Nine men were conveniently sampled and interviewed face to face and on phone at the 37 Military Hospital. The researcher used a semi-structured interview guide for data collection and the data were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results of this study showed that men living with prostate cancer are bedevilled with biological and social problems which affects their psychological wellbeing. It was found that pain and erectile dysfunction were biological problems patients contend with and lack of professional psychotherapy was a social problem and they also experienced psychological reactions such as fear, worry, anxiety, shock and depression. Additionally, it was found that despite all these experiences, the respondents seemed to have good social support from their nuclear family which aid their management of the disease. It was recommended that professional psychotherapy be made available to mitigate the psychological problems they encounter