1. Experiences and management of urinary incontinence following treatment for prostate cancer: Disrupted embodied practices and adapting to maintain masculinity.
- Author
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Green, Richard
- Subjects
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PROSTATE tumors treatment , *SUPPORT groups , *URINARY incontinence , *RESEARCH funding , *QUALITATIVE research , *DISEASE management , *MASCULINITY , *INTERVIEWING , *JUDGMENT sampling , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *CHRONIC diseases , *THEMATIC analysis , *MEN'S health , *GROUNDED theory , *COMPARATIVE studies , *PATIENTS' attitudes , *SOCIAL stigma , *DISEASE complications - Abstract
This article explores men's experiences of and management strategies for urinary incontinence (UI) following treatment for prostate cancer. Qualitative interviews with 29 men, recruited from two prostate cancer support groups, explored their post-treatment experiences. Drawing on a conceptual toolkit connecting theories of masculinities, embodiment, and chronic illness, this paper identifies older men's experiences and strategies for managing UI and explores how these are shaped by their masculinities. This article identifies interdependence between managing stigma for UI and maintaining masculinity. Men's embodied practices for engaging in activities in public, crucial to masculine identity, were disrupted. In response, they adopted new reflexive body techniques to manage and resolve their UI, and thereby address the threat to their masculine identities, characterised in three strategies: monitoring, planning, and disciplining. The new embodied practices men described suggest three factors as important components for adopting new reflexive body techniques: routine, desire, and unruliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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