Information Needs of Men and Their Partners about Prostate Surgery

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the single greatest cancer threat facing Canadian men, affecting one in eight men with a mortality rate of one in 27. Over 22,300 Canadian men were newly diagnosed in 2007, compared with 12,000 newly diagnosed with lung cancer (Canadian Cancer Society, 2006). Approximately 20% (or 4,400) of these men elected radical prostate surgery *Siemans, Schulze, McKillop, Brundage, & Groome, 2005) a common treatment-of-choice especially when the disease is detected in the early states. Recent statistics indicate that at least 800 men will undergo the procedure in Alberta in 2008. In this presentation, a study undertaken to determine the current information needs of men and their partners about prostate surgery is described. A review of the literature, urology professional input, content analysis and interpretive description analysis of data from focus groups comprised of men and their partners who have experienced prostate surgery, collectively informed the prostatectomy handbook, "Before and After Radical Prostate Surgery" (Vandall-Walker, Moore, & Pyne, submitted for publication) ensuring that this important patient teaching tool is evidence-based.