How was it for you? Men, prostate cancer and radiotherapy

Abstract

This paper explores the views of men who have experienced external beam radiotherapy as part of their treatment for prostate cancer. Using three focus groups, the study aimed to explore men's experience of radiotherapy. However it soon became clear that it is not possible to disentangle the experience of radiotherapy from that of the whole cancer journey. Four themes emerged from qualitative analysis of the data, namely, making decisions (feeling prepared and informed), the experience of radiotherapy, side effects of treatment and sources of support.

The findings indicate that health care professionals involved in radiotherapy treatment delivery need to understand and maintain sensitivity to the physical and emotional impact of the men's experience prior to radiotherapy in addition to those experienced during radiotherapy. In order to raise awareness and understanding of whole experience from the men's perspective, it is suggested that feedback of patient experience should become an integral part of radiotherapy department activity.

This paper is an extract from a wider study that explores the experience of men undergoing brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy.