Prostate cancer impacts on the daily lives of men, particularly their physical and emotional health, relationships and social life. This paper highlights how men cope with disease and treatment and the strategies they employ to manage their diagnosis alongside daily life. Twenty-seven men were interviewed at different stages in their disease pathway: nine men prior to radiotherapy, eight men at 6-8 months post radiotherapy and 10 men at 12-18 months post radiotherapy. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyse the data. Regardless of the point at which they were interviewed four areas emerged as important to the men: the pathway to diagnosis; the diagnosis; the impact of prostate cancer and its treatment on daily life; and living with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer was diagnosed using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, rectal examination and biopsy. Many men did not understand the consequences of a high PSA reading before they undertook the test. Painful investigative biopsies were viewed as the worst part of the disease experience. Radiotherapy was considered less invasive than other treatments, although preparatory regimes were associated with stress and inconvenience. Men used various strategies to deal with treatment-induced threats to their masculinity in the long term.

The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge and attitudes of paid carers of people with a learning disability regarding cancer. A questionnaire was utilised to gather information from carers involved in the social care of adults with learning disabilities within the independent sector. A total of 324 questionnaires were returned. Subjects were asked to provide words that they associated with cancer to provide data on their attitude to cancer. Knowledge-based questions examined their knowledge on the possibility of recovery from cancer, the likelihood of cancer (particularly in relation to people with learning disabilities), types of cancer, risk reduction and early signs and detection. Subjects were also asked for their views regarding the adequacy of their knowledge and training needs. The findings indicated that the carers had some knowledge regarding cancer, but strategies for preventing and detecting cancer with adults with learning disabilities were not clearly elucidated.

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