Psychosocial experience of couples coping with prostate cancer: a qualitative study

Prostate cancer is always regarded as 'we' disease with unavoidable influence within the couples, particularly during the early post-diagnosis period. Thus, this qualitative research is to explore the psychosocial experiences of prostate cancer couples coping within six months of diagnosis in China. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews between June 2023 and June 2024. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following Braun and Clarke's reflective thematic analysis approach. Fourteen couples were enrolled using purposive sampling with variation in sociodemographic information. The participants' normal lives were disrupted, and couples adopted both individual and joint coping strategies to regain a new sense of balance. The overarching theme "Refine and Regain" was proposed during this process. This emerged from five main themes: "Unrecognized distress and emotional fluctuation," "Lost in frustration," "Interrupted family and social connections," "Striving for survival," and "Growth and adaption." Couples got through physical and emotional difficulties during the anti-cancer treatment, starting from accepting the fact they got the cancer. Some participants showed a progressive adaptation to cancer over time, while others experienced a dynamic, non-linear adjustment process. The findings revealed variations in couples' psychosocial adaptation to prostate cancer, highlighting the need for tailored interventions to enhance mutual coping.