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Symptom Management Strategies for Men with Early-Stage Prostate Cancer: Results from the Prostate Cancer Patient Education Program (PCPEP)

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Abstract

While the literature on prostate cancer health-related quality of life has grown extensively, little is known about symptom management strategies used by men to manage treatment-related side effects and the effectiveness of those strategies. We collected 628 symptom management reports from 98 men treated for localized prostate cancer. Participants were recruited from email lists and a prostate cancer clinic in Northern California. Data were collected using the Critical Incident Technique. Symptom management reports were assigned to categories of urinary, sexual, bowel, mental health, systemic, or “other.” We calculated descriptive statistics by symptom type and management strategy effectiveness. The most common symptoms were urinary (26 %) and sexual (23 %). Participants’ symptom management strategies varied widely, from medical and surgical interventions (20 %) to behavioral strategies (11 %) to diet and lifestyle interventions (12 %). The effectiveness of symptom management strategies varied, with sexual symptoms being managed effectively only 47 % of the time to mental health symptom management strategies considered effective 89 % of the time. Doing nothing was a commonly reported (15 %) response to symptoms and was effective only 14 % of the time. Men report the least effectiveness in symptom management for sexual dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment. Including men’s experience with managing treatment side effects may be an important way to improve survivorship programs and make them more acceptable to men. More work is needed to find out why men frequently do nothing in response to symptoms when effective solutions exist and how providers can successfully engage such men.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by grant R03 CA101586 from the National Cancer Institute to David M. Latini. This material is partly the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence (HFP90-020), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Latini is supported by Mentored Research Scholar Grant 06-083-01-CPPB from the American Cancer Society. We also would like acknowledge the assistance of Sarah Howard Joost in recruiting participants, David V. Flores and Thomas D. McNeese II in data management and coding, and Sonora Hudson, MA, in editing the manuscript. Sandra R. Wilson, PhD, provided her expertise with the Critical Incident Technique to the study team. The views expressed reflect those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Veterans Affairs/Baylor College of Medicine.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no financial interests to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Alok Vij, Marc A. Kowalkowski & Heather Honoré Goltz

  2. VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Marc A. Kowalkowski & Heather Honoré Goltz

  3. Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Tae Hart

  4. University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX, USA

    David J. Hoffman

  5. San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sara J. Knight

  6. Department of Urology and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sara J. Knight & Peter R. Caroll

  7. Scott Department of Urology and Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    David M. Latini

  8. Mental Health Care Line (116), Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    David M. Latini

Authors
  1. Alok Vij
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  2. Marc A. Kowalkowski
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  3. Tae Hart
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  4. Heather Honoré Goltz
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  5. David J. Hoffman
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  6. Sara J. Knight
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  7. Peter R. Caroll
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  8. David M. Latini
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Correspondence to David M. Latini.

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Vij, A., Kowalkowski, M.A., Hart, T. et al. Symptom Management Strategies for Men with Early-Stage Prostate Cancer: Results from the Prostate Cancer Patient Education Program (PCPEP). J Canc Educ 28, 755–761 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0538-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0538-1

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