Objective: Sexual dysfunction can profoundly affect men’s quality of life, self-esteem, mental health, relationships, and sense of masculinity, and is a common side effect of almost all prostate cancer treatments. Despite available support, sexuality needs are the most frequently reported unmet need among men with prostate cancer, which may be due to low help-seeking rates. To better understand what factors impact help-seeking behaviour for sexual issues after prostate cancer treatment among men who had received treatment, we conducted a scoping review of the available literature.
Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search on Medline, PsychInfo, Embase, Emcare, and Scopus was conducted to identify studies of adult prostate cancer patients’ post-treatment, which reported barriers and/or facilitators to help-seeking for sexual health issues. Quality appraisals were conducted using Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal tools, and results were qualitatively synthesised.
Results: Of the 3,870 unique results, only 30 studies met inclusion criteria. Of these, 17 were qualitative, 9 quantitative, and 5 used mixed methods. In general, studies were considered moderate to good quality, though only six used standardised measures to assess help-seeking behaviour. A number of barriers and facilitators for sexual help-seeking were identified, including age, treatment type, interest in sexual recovery, previous help seeking experience, healthcare professional communication, continuity of care, partner support, financial cost and accessibility of support/treatment, and finally, sexual minority, and social and cultural norms.
Conclusions: Addressing commonly reported barriers (and inversely, enhancing facilitators) to help-seeking for sexual issues is essential to ensure patients are appropriately supported. Based on our results, we recommend healthcare professionals include sexual wellbeing discussions as standard care for all prostate cancer patients; regardless of treatment/s received, age, sexual orientation, and partnership status/involvement. Such conversations should occur both pre-and post-treatment, and well into survivorship.