How can we best meet the psychosocial need of men with cancer?

Outline
Until now most of our efforts have been directed to understanding the impact of psychosocial factors in women with breast cancer. Using this experience and expertise we plan to broaden our range of study to include all cancer types and develop work on men and cancer in particular.

Men with cancer seek less information about their cancer and involve themselves less in the clinical decision-making process compared with women. Furthermore they seek and receive counselling and other forms of psychological support less than women. We are interested in examining the reasons for these differences. We are looking at differences between male and female cancer patients in terms of their health-related quality of life, including differences in levels of anxiety, depression and anger, differences in report of physical complaints and differences in alcohol consumption. We are looking at whether men and women have different cancer-related concerns or different ways in which they confide in others about their cancer and the effect the cancer has on their partners. The outcome of this descriptive work should inform the development of appropriate ways of meeting the psychosocial needs of men with cancer.

Duration of Study
1999-2002

Main Researcher
Edwina Williams

Publications
Williams ERL, Ramirez AJ, Richards MA, Young T, Maher EJ, Boudioni M, Maguire P. Are men missing from cancer information and support services? Psycho-Oncology 2000; 9: 364.