Meaning of Incontinence and Impotence for Low Income African- American and Latino Men with Prostate Cancer

摘要

The purpose of this project is to describe the meaning of prostate cancer treatment-related incontinence and impotence for low income African American and Latino men. Preliminary common categories between the Latino and African American men included erectile dysfunction and incontinence were the price that had to be paid to cure cancer, trusting God as a means of coping, context of incontinence as determinant of its acceptability (e.g. if due to illness, acceptable; if due to drunkenness, not acceptable), and ambivalence toward role of erectile function in masculine identity and transitional masculinity.