Skip to main content

New Tool IDs Sexual Struggles in Female Partners of Prostate Cancer Patients

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on May 24, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 24, 2024 -- The Sexual Concerns In Partners of Patients with Prostate cancer tool is a valid measure of sexual health in female partners of patients with prostate cancer, according to a study published online May 17 in European Urology Oncology.

Stacy Loeb, M.D., from NYU Langone Health in New York City, and colleagues described the development and validation of an instrument to measure sexual health in female partners of patients with prostate cancer. The 27-question tool was developed as a result of a literature review, two qualitative studies, and an expert consensus process. The analysis for validation of the tool included questionnaires completed by 200 female partners of patients with prostate cancer.

The researchers reported that exploratory factor analysis eliminated eight items and revealed seven key factors: (1) distress/satisfaction; (2) loss of connection as a couple; (3) active communication; (4) discomfort with communication; (5) frustration with sexual counseling; (6) expansion of sexual repertoire; and (7) nonpenetrative sexual activity. The scale showed strong internal consistency (ordinal alpha, 0.94) and test-retest reliability (0.89).

"Our hope is that clinicians will use our survey to help patients and their partners identify issues in their sex lives that are impacted by this common cancer and to help determine what support services could be useful," Loeb said in a statement. "When thinking about living with prostate cancer, this is really a couples’ disease, and partners’ unmet needs should be part of the conversation."

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted May 2024

Read this next

Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Feasible After Radical Prostatectomy

TUESDAY, May 20, 2025 -- Post-radical prostatectomy (post-RP) stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is well tolerated, with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) comparable to those...

MRI-Guided Biopsy Linked to Durability of Active Surveillance in Prostate Cancer

MONDAY, May 19, 2025 -- Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided biopsy (MRGB) could increase the durability of active surveillance (AS) in men with prostate cancer...

Nearly Half of Patients Seeking Vulvovaginal Disorder Care Report Negative Experiences

TUESDAY, May 13, 2025 -- Patients seeking care for vulvovaginal disorders report distress and gaslighting from past clinical experiences, according to a study published online May...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.