title: Communication and intimacy-enhancing interventions for men diagnosed with prostate cancer and their partners.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The sexual dysfunction following prostate cancer treatments often leads to a reduction in intimate contact for couples. A number of psychosocial interventions have been developed to enhance intimacy in these couples. This paper reviews three of these interventions and is a summary of a presentation given as part of a symposium at the 2011 Cancer Survivorship and Sexual Health Meeting.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this presentation was to: (i) review three types of psychosocial interventions; and (ii) describe the methodological issues highlighted by these interventions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Validated measures of relationship intimacy and communication.
  
  
  METHODS
  To be selected, the interventions had to be: a randomized control trial, focus on a couples approach to therapy, and report at least one relationship outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results were not consistent within or across studies, and suggest that some specific aspects of the interventions may be helpful for the patient, while other aspects of the studies may be helpful for the partner. The Northouse et al. study suggests that partners may benefit from a focus on couple work, as compared to the patient. The Canada et al. study indicates that when focusing on sexual functioning, working with a couple did not show significant benefit compared to working with a man alone. The study did show, however, that a sexual-based intervention can improve the use of erectile dysfunction treatments and suggests patients may benefit from specific focus on side effects of treatment. The Manne et al. study highlights the importance of targeting these interventions to couples who report distress, and for distressed couples, an intervention can show positive results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intimacy enhancing interventions can be effective for couples, while the partners may benefit more from couples work; the patients may benefit more from focus on specific side effects.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10022, USA. nelsonc@mskcc.org
authors: Christian J
authors: CJ
authors: Nelson
authors: Joslyn
authors: J
authors: Kenowitz
mesh_terms: D019546:Couples Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D019529:Sexuality; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
references: J Sex Med. 2010 Jan;7(1 Pt 1):129-35
references: 20104671
references: J Sex Med. 2011 Apr;8(4):1197-209
references: 21210958
references: Cancer. 2007 Dec 15;110(12):2809-18
references: 17999405
references: J Urol. 2007 Feb;177(2):669-73
references: 17222655
references: Psychosom Med. 1998 Jul-Aug;60(4):458-65
references: 9710291
references: J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Oct;16(10):649-55
references: 11679031
references: J Urol. 2008 Jun;179(6):2207-10; discussion 2210-1
references: 18423693
references: Urology. 1998 Nov;52(5):848-52
references: 9801112
references: Urology. 1997 Jun;49(6):822-30
references: 9187685
references: J Sex Marital Ther. 2003 Oct-Dec;29(5):381-99
references: 14504009
references: JAMA. 1999 Feb 10;281(6):537-44
references: 10022110
references: Cancer. 2005 Dec 15;104(12):2689-700
references: 16294343
references: CA Cancer J Clin. 2003 Jan-Feb;53(1):5-26
references: 12568441
references: Cancer. 2002 Oct 15;95(8):1773-85
references: 12365027
references: J Sex Med. 2008 Aug;5(8):1941-8
references: 18399948
references: J Sex Med. 2009 Sep;6(9):2538-46
references: 19515209
references: N Engl J Med. 2005 May 12;352(19):1977-84
references: 15888698
references: Psychooncology. 2006 Nov;15(11):937-53
references: 16521081
references: J Affect Disord. 2004 Oct 15;82(2):235-43
references: 15488252