Communication and Intimacy-Enhancing Therapy for Men With Early Stage Prostate Cancer and Their Partners

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomized clinical trial evaluating communication and intimacy-enhancing intervention (CI) vs usual care (UC).
To collect descriptive information and basic psychometrics on proposed study measures.
To gather preliminary data regarding the impact of CI on couples' psychosocial adaptation, relationship closeness, and sexual intimacy in order to calculate power for a larger full scale trial.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients and their partners are randomized to 1 of 2 intervention arms.

Arm I: Patients and their partners receive communication and intimacy-enhancing intervention (CI) once a week comprising the following five 90-minute sessions: Rationale and Overview; Basic Communication; Intimacy and Sexuality; Improving Intimacy; and Reflecting on Changes and Cancer Survivorship.
Arm II: Patients and their partners receive standard psychological and emotional care (usual care [UC]) (i.e., social work consultations and referral to a psychiatrist or psychologist, if requested or deemed necessary by the attending physician).

Physical impairment, psychological adjustment, relationship closeness, relationship communication, sexual function and satisfaction, male self-esteem, relationship satisfaction, intervention evaluation, and erectile dysfunction treatment utilization, and referral are assessed at 1 week post-intervention or at 6-8 weeks post baseline and then at 3 months (for patients and their partners in arm I) and at 8 weeks post-baseline and then at 3 months (for patients and their partners in arm II).

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 50 patients and 50 partners will be accrued for this study.