title: Psychosocial longitudinal study profile and distress of couples in relation to the conduct of prostate biopsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Partners of prostate cancer patients have been reported to suffer from high levels of psychological distress, although there are few reports of the changes in their distress levels observed before and after the diagnosis and the factors influencing them. This study constructed a longitudinal psychosocial database of prostate cancer biopsy subjects and their partners. This paper describes a summary of the database and the nature and severity of the psychological distress and cancer-related worry.
  
  
  METHODS
  We distributed self-administered questionnaires to subjects scheduled for a prostate cancer biopsy and their partners on four occasions: prior to the biopsy, and 1, 3 and 6 months after being informed whether the diagnosis was cancer or not. The questionnaires included questions pertaining to the psychological distress, cancer-related worry and correlational factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 240 couples who agreed to participate in the database project, 184 couples completed the first and second surveys; thus, the database consists of them. While no significant differences in the levels of psychological distress were found among the participants before the biopsy, the prostate cancer patients and their partners had significantly higher levels of psychological distress as compared with the non-prostate cancer patients at 1 month after being informed whether the diagnosis was cancer or not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study constructed a longitudinal psychosocial database of prostate cancer biopsy subjects and their partners. Our findings suggest that partners of prostate cancer patients might experience a similar psychological impact to the prostate cancer patients before and after the diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: *Patient Support Center, Gunma Prefectural Cancer Center, 17-1 Takahayashi-nishimachi, Ota, Gunma, Japan. a.oba@gunma-cc.jp.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oba
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakaya
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasumi
authors.forename: Kumiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono-Yanaba
authors.forename: Kumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito-Nakaya
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takechi
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D001706:Biopsy / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: couple; prostate cancer; psychological distress