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Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs

BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored the women's experiences as a result of a partners' diagnosis of prostate cancer. This study begins to explore women's interactions with physicians (primary care and urologist) and the support needs associated with the diagnosis and treatment of th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Evertsen, Jennifer M, Wolkenstein, Alan S
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2843600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20211019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-11-19
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author Evertsen, Jennifer M
Wolkenstein, Alan S
author_facet Evertsen, Jennifer M
Wolkenstein, Alan S
author_sort Evertsen, Jennifer M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored the women's experiences as a result of a partners' diagnosis of prostate cancer. This study begins to explore women's interactions with physicians (primary care and urologist) and the support needs associated with the diagnosis and treatment of their partners' prostate cancer. METHODS: Two focus groups (n = 14) of women whose partners were diagnosed with prostate cancer (diagnoses' 1 - 18 months). A trained facilitator used open-ended questions to explore ideas. The framework approach was used to analyze the transcripts. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: 1. More support. Validation and information is needed for women including emotional support and opportunities to share experiences. 2. Role of the physician. The transfer of care once specialized treatment is no longer needed remained poorly defined, which increased confusion and feelings of abandonment related to the role of the primary physician. 3. Partners' relationship changes. Men became more dependent on their partners for support and to act as the primary communicator and caregiver. CONCLUSIONS: Additional research is needed in this field to confirm the importance of training primary care physicians to consider holistic treatment approaches that recognize the partner and family needs as important in the complete physical and emotional healing of their patients.
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spelling pubmed-28436002010-03-23 Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs Evertsen, Jennifer M Wolkenstein, Alan S BMC Fam Pract Research article BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored the women's experiences as a result of a partners' diagnosis of prostate cancer. This study begins to explore women's interactions with physicians (primary care and urologist) and the support needs associated with the diagnosis and treatment of their partners' prostate cancer. METHODS: Two focus groups (n = 14) of women whose partners were diagnosed with prostate cancer (diagnoses' 1 - 18 months). A trained facilitator used open-ended questions to explore ideas. The framework approach was used to analyze the transcripts. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: 1. More support. Validation and information is needed for women including emotional support and opportunities to share experiences. 2. Role of the physician. The transfer of care once specialized treatment is no longer needed remained poorly defined, which increased confusion and feelings of abandonment related to the role of the primary physician. 3. Partners' relationship changes. Men became more dependent on their partners for support and to act as the primary communicator and caregiver. CONCLUSIONS: Additional research is needed in this field to confirm the importance of training primary care physicians to consider holistic treatment approaches that recognize the partner and family needs as important in the complete physical and emotional healing of their patients. BioMed Central 2010-03-08 /pmc/articles/PMC2843600/ /pubmed/20211019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-11-19 Text en Copyright ©2010 Evertsen and Wolkenstein; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research article
Evertsen, Jennifer M
Wolkenstein, Alan S
Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title_full Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title_fullStr Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title_full_unstemmed Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title_short Female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
title_sort female partners of patients after surgical prostate cancer treatment: interactions with physicians and support needs
topic Research article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2843600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20211019
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-11-19
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