The Neglected Sexual Side Effects After Prostate Cancer Treatment. A Mixed Methods Study of the Prevalence, Screening and Psychosocial Impact on South African Men

The Neglected Sexual Side Effects After Prostate Cancer Treatment. A Mixed Methods Study of the Prevalence, Screening and Psychosocial Impact on South African Men

Introduction/Background: The neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment are poorly understood and understudied, especially with regards to their prevalence rates and detection methods. A barrier to understanding the neglected sexual side effects is that there are currently no questionnaire-based screening tools available to detect them, effectively preventing early intervention and promoting long term disability for some patients after prostate cancer treatment. It is unknown what the prevalence rates are of the neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment in South African men, and whether these side effects impact on their psychosocial life.

Aim: This study reviewed the literature of the prevalence and detection trends of the neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment. It further aimed to develop the
items of a neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment questionnaire-based screening tool. After it was developed, the tool was used in a South African population to gather neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment prevalence rates, and to determine how bothersome the NSSE were to participants. Lastly, the study aimed to determine the psychosocial impact of sexual dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment.

Methods: This thesis by manuscript provides the evidence using mixed methods to achieve the aims stated above through the submission of linked papers, some of which have been
published or are under review in peer-reviewed medical journals. The papers included i) a scoping review of the neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment, ii) a Delphi study where the neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer questionnaire-based screening tool was developed, iii) a prevalence and bothersomeness of neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment paper and iv) a psychosocial impact of sexual dysfunction after PCT paper.

Results: This thesis provides information on the prevalence of the neglected sexual side effects after PCT and how they are detected based on the current literature. The Delphi study provided a robust rationale for an 8-item neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment questionnaire-based screening tool. South African neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment prevalence and bothersomeness trends were discovered as well
as the psychosocial impact of sexual dysfunction in men after prostate cancer treatment.

Conclusion: Neglected sexual side effects after prostate cancer treatment could be detected early by using a questionnaire-based screening tool that could be made freely available and self-administered by men after prostate cancer treatment. Early awareness and management of the neglected sexual side effects could minimise the long-term disability associated with sexual dysfunction and improve the psychosocial wellbeing of men after their prostate cancer
treatment.

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.