MEN'S FEAR OF PROSTATE CANCER PROBLEMS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract

The present study addresses the knowledge about the fears of men with prostate cancer, related to their lifestyles, beliefs and spirituality. Objective: to describe the main fears found in men living with prostate cancer. For this, the following guiding question was established: What are the main fears found in individuals with prostate cancer? Method: this is a systematic review of the literature. As inclusion criteria, articles in the foreign languages English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese were maintained, free of charge, which addressed the researched themes, according to the object of study, using the search time frame of 5 years (2019-2024) and in the LILACS, MEDLINE, BDENF, and PUBMED databases. The following descriptors were used: fear, prostate neoplasms, and men's health. For the exclusion criteria, repeated articles that did not address the theme, that did not answer the guiding question, and articles composed only of abstracts were discarded. Results: The results obtained from 7 (seven) selected scientific articles brought the effectiveness of 3 thematic categories focusing on the fears of men with prostate cancer, the ways to relieve suffering, in an attempt to eliminate or reduce the feeling of fear and the support of family and spirituality, in coping with the disease. Conclusion: It was demonstrated that the need for a comprehensive and gender-sensitive approach to overcome cultural and social barriers that end up increasing the feeling of fear in men and keeping them away from preventive health care.