Project: Perceived Stigmatisation and Body Image in Prostate Cancer Patients.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men with nearly 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It usually affects men over 50 but can also affect younger males. As treatment is very effective, particularly if diagnosed early, there are many more men living with prostate cancer in the community. What we don’t know from current research is how prostate cancer, and the treatment men receive, changes how men feel about their bodies and, consequently, whether they feel others think of them differently which makes them feel different to other men. In addition, the partners of the men affected by prostate cancer are invariability ignored in clinical research, we aim to gather their experiences also in this research.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men with nearly 50,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It usually affects men over 50 but can also affect younger males. As treatment is very effective, particularly if diagnosed early, there are many more men living with prostate cancer in the community. What we don’t know from current research is how prostate cancer, and the treatment men receive, changes how men feel about their bodies and, consequently, whether they feel others think of themselves differently. These issues may have important consequences for prostate cancer patients’ quality of life and mental health and possibly, affect their decisions about taking up or continuing with treatment. ‘Maleness’ is often overlooked in medical research and often not thought about enough in clinical practice. Treatments for prostate cancer may have an additional impact as they may affect sexual function, incontinence and make the body lose some of the characteristic male appearance. While issues about masculinity and sexuality in prostate cancer have been researched, the impact on these men on how they feel about their bodies has received little clinical attention. Also, how the men’s partners think and feel about the cancer is also an extremely under researched topic. This study will explore this by undertaking interviews with men and their partners who are currently undergoing or have received treatment for prostate cancer. This research is important because it may help inform ways of supporting men during and after treatment and improving their quality of life. It would also provide a basis to look at these issues in other groups of men undergoing cancer treatment.