“…It might not have occurred to my husband that this woman, his wife who is taking care of him has some emotional needs as well…”: the unheard voices of partners of Black African and Black Caribbean men with prostate cancer

Abstract

Cultural beliefs, behaviours and values should be taken into account when developing psychosocial support for partners and their men with CaP. Specifically providing information focused on partners and including them in the CaP care pathway could help ensure that partners' needs are recognised and improve marital communications. This could potentially help partners and their men to identify acceptable ways of supporting each other throughout the CaP experience.

“Man in the driving seat”: A grounded theory study of the psychosocial experiences of Black African and Black Caribbean men treated for prostate cancer and their partners

“…The women mostly coped by prioritising their caregiving roles over own psychological and emotional needs, using distractions (eg, work and childcare), feeling sympathetic and loyal towards their husbands, and also by praying. A detailed discussion of partners’ experiences has been reported elsewhere …”

An Integrative Counseling Approach for African American Couples With Prostate Cancer

“…Sexual issues, including masculinity, also seemed to be a barrier to communication within African American couples facing PCa (Friedman et al, 2012). The role of masculinity and sexuality is pervasive in the PCa literature and is echoed in literature on African American couples when considering treatment decisions, sexual aids, and other concerns (Bamidele, Lagan, et al, 2019). Given that the experience of having PCa, from diagnosis to survivorship, has psychosocial effects unique to African American survivors and their partners, it is important to examine some of the counseling concerns that are specific for African American couples facing the disease (Rivers et al, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, the concerns of partners may differ from the concerns of survivors, who worry more about mortality than the side effects of the disease or treatment (Rivers et al, 2011). Bamidele, Lagan, et al (2019) found that partners experience isolation and sometimes feel as though they are a “co‐patient” (p. 1092). Although much of this information is provided by medical professionals, one of the main sources of information for Africa American PCa survivors are their partners (Walsh‐Childers et al, 2018).…”

“…There is very little evidence of couples‐based treatment for African American couples facing PCa, with the exception of a study by Campbell et al (2007) on a telephone‐based coping skills training. Despite the lack of evidence on couples‐based treatments (Chambers et al, 2011), there is evidence of unique health disparities and cultural experiences of African American couples facing PCa (e.g., Bamidele, Lagan, et al, 2019; Rivers et al, 2012). Furthermore, there is also a documented lack of professional support for PCa couples’ posttreatment distress (Bamidele et al, 2018).…”

“…Therefore, it is necessary to take a deeper look at what couples‐based interventions could look like for this population and to test the efficacy of the interventions. Although there are real challenges in conducting this type of development and research on outcomes (Bamidele, McGarvey, et al, 2019), it is necessary to provide better and more comprehensive care for PCa couples. Based on the review of couples‐based intervention research and what has been done with a general participant pool, we suggest that counselors working with African American couples facing PCa focus their work on a few areas: general cancer support, psychosocial support, sexual support, relational support, peer support, and spiritual support.…”