Emotional Isolation: Prevalence and the Effect on Well-being among 50-80-Year-Old Prostate Cancer Patients

Abstract

Scand J Urol Nephrol 35: 97-101, 2001Objective: To investigate to what extent prostate cancer patients con de their emotional concerns, and whether having no one to con de in affects well-being. Material and methods: A population-based study using epidemiological methods. A questionnaire was mailed to all 431 living prostate cancer patients aged 50-80 at the time of selection, diagnosed 1.5-2 years previously in Stockholm County, and 435 randomly selected men in the same age group. The questionnaire was completed anonymously. The main outcome measures included questions assessing the extent to which the men could share emotionally taxing feelings with their partner or others and questions assessing well-being. Results: The questionnaire was returned by 79% of the patients and by 73% of the randomly selected men. Approximately one in ve patients had no one to con de in. Of patients living with a partner, only one in 10 con ded in someone other than their partner. Three out of 10 patients living in a relationship could not con de in their partner. Men having no one to con de in were less content with their life and reported poorer psychological and overall well-being compared with other men. The prostate cancer patients were not more likely to have someone to con de in than men in general. Conclusions:The results indicate that a lack of emotional support may be a problem for many prostate cancer patients and that the traditional psychosocial support offered to most cancer patients in Sweden may not reach male patients. There may be a need for a gender-adapted approach to emotional support. Few would dispute that having close friends and good emotional relations with a partner (or other relatives) are essential for a good life. This is especially true in situations involving emotional strain. Being diagnosed with cancer can be a traumatic experience for many men (1) and has been reported to result in major depression in up to 25% of patients (2-4). For men diagnosed with prostate cancer the side effects of the available treatments also lead to distress in the majority of patients (5)(6)(7)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). It is not known to what extent middle-aged and elderly men share their emotional concerns, nor whether this proportion changes after the men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer due to efforts by healthcare personnel or others to offer emotional support. It is also unclear if sharing emotional concerns affects well-being in this age group of men.Sweden has good prerequisites for epidemiological investigations in large unselected populations. We have collected data on several quality-of-life aspects from prostate cancer patients aged 50-80 years and an age-matched cohort of randomly selected men (5-8).Here we report to what extent the patients share their emotional concerns with their partner or somebody else. We have also investigated whether those who do not con de their emotional concerns in somebody report a different sense of well-being to those who do. MATERIAL AND METHODSIn October 1993,...

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