Barriers to medical help-seeking among older men with prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Men's disinclination to seek medical help has been linked to higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared to women. However, previous studies were conducted predominantly with healthy, young, and middle-aged men. We explored the perceived medical barriers to help-seeking in older men with prostate cancer.


METHOD
20 men with prostate cancer took part in semistructured interviews, which were analyzed using thematic analysis.


RESULTS
Three themes were identified related to negative attitudes toward help-seeking: male gender role; fear of the health condition, medical and treatment procedures; and embarrassment as a consequence of medical examinations, communication with health (and nonhealth) professionals, and the disclosure of sexual-related symptoms.


CONCLUSION
The barriers identified in our study strengthen the evidence for the impact of traditional masculinity on help-seeking in men.
['Medina-Perucha|L|L|', 'Yousaf|O|O|', 'Hunter|M S|MS|', 'Grunfeld|E A|EA|']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D003142:Communication D030881:Disclosure D004644:Emotions D005239:Fear D005783:Gender Identity D006297:Health Services Accessibility D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D011369:Professional-Patient Relations D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological
help-seeking men prostate cancer thematic analysis masculinity