Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-4-2017
Description
Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the African American prostate cancer survivorship experience following radical prostatectomy and factors contributing to quality of life during survival. Design: African American men who were part of a larger prostate cancer cohort were invited to participate in a focus group. Eighteen open-ended questions were designed by the study team and an experienced moderator to elicit participants' survivorship experiences. Results: Twelve men consented to participate in the study. Emergent themes included views of prostate cancer in the African American community, perceptions of normalcy, emotional side effects following radical prostatectomy, and social support involvement and impact during recovery. Conclusions: Previous findings suggest that African American men may experience more distress than Caucasian men when facing typical prostate cancer side effects. Traditional masculine role norms and negative perceptions of “disease disclosure” in the African American community could be contributing to the distress reported by some in this study. Strengthening social support systems by promoting more prosocial coping and help-seeking behaviors early in the survivorship journey may help bypass the detrimental health effects associated with masculine role identification, resulting in improved quality of life throughout the lengthy survival period anticipated for these men.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Citation Information
Imm, Kellie R.; Williams, Faustine; Housten, Ashley J.; Colditz, Graham A.; Drake, Bettina F.; Gilbert, Keon L.; and Yang, Lin. 2017. African American Prostate Cancer Survivorship: Exploring the Role of Social Support in Quality of Life After Radical Prostatectomy. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology. Vol.35(4). 409-423. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2017.1294641 ISSN: 0734-7332
Copyright Statement
© © 2017 Kellie R. Imm, Faustine Williams, Ashley J. Housten, Graham A. Colditz, Bettina F. Drake, Keon L. Gilbert, and Lin Yang. Published with license by Taylor & Francis. This document was originally published in Journal of Psychosocial Oncology.