title: Prostate cancer support groups, health literacy and consumerism: are community-based volunteers re-defining older men's health?
abstract: In this article we describe the connections between prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) and men's health literacy and consumer orientation to health care services. The study findings are drawn from participant observations conducted at 16 PCSGs in British Columbia, Canada and 54 individual interviews that focused on men's experiences of attending group meetings. Men's communication and interactions at PCSGs provide important insights for how men talk about and conceptualize health and illness. For example, biomedical language often predominated at group meetings, and men used numbers and measures to engage with risk discourses in linking prostate cancer markers to various treatment options and morbidity and mortality rates. Many groups afforded opportunities for men to interact with health care providers as a means to better understand the language and logic of prostate cancer management. The health literacy skills fostered at PCSGs along with specific group-informed strategies could be mobilized in the men's subsequent clinical consultations. Consumer discourses and strategies to contest power relations with health care professionals underpinned many men's search for prostate cancer information and their commitment to assisting other men. Key were patients' rights, and perhaps responsibility, to compare diverse health products and services in making decisions across the entire trajectory of their prostate cancer. Overall, the study findings reveal PCSGs as having the capacity to contest as well as align with medical expertise and services facilitating men's transition from patient to informed health care consumers. The processes through which this occurs may direct the design of older men's health promotion programs.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia, School of Nursing, Canada. john.oliffe@nursing.ubc.ca
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Oliffe
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bottorff
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: T Gregory
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Hislop
authors.forename: Julieta S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gerbrandt
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oglov
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001955:British Columbia; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014838:Volunteers / Q000458:organization & administration