Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Men's disinclination to seek medical help has been linked to higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared to women. However, previous studies were conducted predominantly with healthy, young, and middle-aged men. We explored the perceived medical barriers to help-seeking in older men with prostate cancer.
METHOD: 20 men with prostate cancer took part in semistructured interviews, which were analyzed using thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Three themes were identified related to negative attitudes toward help-seeking: male gender role; fear of the health condition, medical and treatment procedures; and embarrassment as a consequence of medical examinations, communication with health (and nonhealth) professionals, and the disclosure of sexual-related symptoms.
CONCLUSION: The barriers identified in our study strengthen the evidence for the impact of traditional masculinity on help-seeking in men.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | (in press) |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Journal of Psychosocial Oncology |
| Volume | (in press) |
| Early online date | 3 Apr 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Apr 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Statement - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Psychosocial Oncology on 3rd April 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07347332.2017.1312661Keywords
- help-seeking
- masculinity
- men
- prostate cancer
- thematic analysis
