The Evaluation of Concepts and Feelings of Patients with Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Who are Candidates for Radical Prostatectomy, Before surgery: First Part of a Longitudinal Qualitative Study

Abstract

Prostate Adenocarcinoma is one of the most prevalent cancers all over the world. The distinct characteristics of this malignancy with regard to growth pace and advancing patterns make it a specific phenomenon both in view of patients and health care givers. “Cancer” as a difficult to cure disease and even sometimes incurable carries special meanings and senses for patients and simultaneously the slow progress of prostate cancer increases the chance of successful treatment which can be done through diverse routes. More or less the different treatment choices are identically effective and selecting any of them takes place concerning the complications, physician experiences and desires and patient age and preferences. Generally, the concept of patients of the disease, the effectiveness and complications of the treatment and expectancy of cure vary widely. This study aimed to evaluate the concept and feelings of the patients in order to attain a prospect of their morals, mentalities and priorities to aid healthcare givers in proper decision making. Method: This study is the first phase of a longitudinal qualitative study during which patients with prostate adenocarcinoma who were candidates for radical prostatectomy were interviewed in two phases: before and after surgery. The semi-structured interviews were meant to support qualitative data for being classified and analyzed by Colaizzi (1987) method. Sampling was purposive based on theoretical saturation and totally 19 patients participated in the study. Results: Comprehensively three main themes of « Confronting the Disease and Perception of It», « Patient Concept of the Disease» and «Patient Concept of the Treatment and Complications» were derived from the gathered date. Also 19 sub-themes (6, 11 and 2 respectively) were found to explain the lived experiences of the patients with prostate malignancy more in detail.