A Couple Support Intervention for Prostate Cancer

Scientific abstract Evidence shows significant unmet psychosexual needs for couples affected by prostate cancer. Studies have identified the contribution that psychosocial interventions could have for couples, e.g. strengthening healthy adaptation and better communication, developing coping skills for distressed couples, and facilitating healthy spousal communication to address the sexual rehabilitation needs. This is a feasibility study with a built-in pilot, which will examine the acceptability, feasibility and outcomes of a psychosexual intervention to support couples, drawing on the Medical Research Council complex intervention framework. The intervention will be developed from the extant and our pilot work. Men in outpatient surgical follow-up clinics will be screened using EPIC, and recruited if scoring under the clinical threshold for potency. 68 couples will be randomised to two arms, one receiving six sessions of couple-support from specially trained counsellors and the others receiving standard care. The primary outcome measure is health-related quality-of-life. Pre, post and 6-month follow-up outcomes will be measured in both individual (quality of life; anxiety/depression) and in relational terms (relationship between couples). An economic analysis will identify population costs.