Undergoing radical treatment for prostate cancer and its impact on wellbeing: A qualitative study exploring men's experiences

INTRODUCTION

Quality of life in prostate cancer survivorship is becoming increasingly important, with mental and social wellbeing recognised as key components. However, limited global evaluation of psychosocial challenges experienced after treatment exists. Therefore, we aimed to explore the lived experiences of men who underwent radical treatment, and its psychosocial impact.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This qualitative study was conducted using 19 men who had undergone radical treatment (prostatectomy or radiotherapy) for their cancer. Semi-structured interviews were conducted exploring lived experiences of men after treatment. A Structured thematic analysis of collected data was undertaken, with an inductive co-construction of themes through the lens of the biopsychosocial model. Themes generated were considered within a psychological, social, and physical wellbeing framework.

RESULTS

An initial knowledge gap meant mental wellbeing was strongly impacted initially leading to a 'Diagnostic Blow and the Search for Clarity'. Doubt over individuals' future resulted in 'An Uncertain Future' in many men. Once treatment was completed a 'Reflective journey' began, with men considering their outcomes and decisions made. Social wellbeing was also impacted with many identifying the 'Emotional Repercussions' on their relationships and the impact their diagnosis had on their partner and family. Many subsequently sought to increase their support through 'The Social Network and Advocacy', while physical changes led to an increased need for 'Social Planning'. Finally, physical wellbeing was highlighted by a continual acknowledgement of the 'Natural process of ageing' leading to a reluctancy to seek help, whilst simultaneously attempting to improve existing health via 'The Health Kick'.

CONCLUSIONS

Radical treatments have a considerable impact on mental and social wellbeing of individuals. Anxiety after diagnosis and significant uncertainty over individual futures exist, with physical complications of treatment leading to social repercussions. Future research should aim to identify forms of support to improve quality of life of these men.

Palpation force modulation strategies to identify hard regions in soft tissue organs

This paper presents experimental evidence for the existence of a set of unique force modulation strategies during manual soft tissue palpation to locate hard abnormalities such as tumors. We explore the active probing strategies of defined local areas and outline the role of force control. In addition, we investigate whether the applied force depends on the non-homogeneity of the soft tissue. Experimental results on manual palpation of soft silicone phantoms show that humans have a well defined force control pattern of probing that is used independently of the non-homogeneity of the soft tissue. We observed that the modulations of lateral forces are distributed around the mean frequency of 22.3 Hz. Furthermore, we found that the applied normal pressure during probing can be modeled using a second order reactive autoregressive model. These mathematical abstractions were implemented and validated for the autonomous palpation for different stiffness parameters using a robotic probe with a rigid spherical indentation tip. The results show that the autonomous robotic palpation strategy abstracted from human demonstrations is capable of not only detecting the embedded nodules, but also enhancing the stiffness perception compared to static indentation of the probe.