A Qualitative Study Exploring Models of Supportive Care in Men and Their Partners/Caregivers Affected by Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Purpose/Objectives: To explore the experiences of patients with metastatic prostate cancer and their partners/caregivers, as well as an interprofessional team, with a nurse-led multimodality supportive care intervention.

Research Approach: Qualitative study.

Setting: National Health Service (NHS), Tayside, Scotland.

Participants: 19 patients, 7 partners/caregivers, and 7 interprofessional members from four hospitals in NHS, Tayside, Scotland.

Methodologic Approach: 33 semistructured interviews were conducted to explore patients’ and partners/caregivers’ experiences of supportive care, and a framework approach was used to analyze the data.

Findings: Men and their partners/caregivers experienced a range of unmet physical, psychological, and informational supportive care needs. The participants in the intervention group reported overall high satisfaction with the use of holistic needs assessments and self-management plans, with a decrease in unmet needs compared to the standard of care over time. The prostate cancer specialist nurse was perceived as the hub of survivorship care. Members of the interprofessional team perceived benefit in the nurse-led multimodal supportive care intervention.

Interpretation: An emphasis needs to be placed on personalizing care, with supportive care interventions targeted to individual needs.

Implications for Nursing: Care can be improved by incorporating holistic needs assessment to target specialized interventions for optimized, individualized care plans. An intervention seminar encouraged self-management and self-efficiency, leading to greater satisfaction for participants.