Australian researchers have developed a new way to measure how men cope with prostate cancer.

Although not yet ready for use in a doctor's office, the findings reported in the journal Urology (Vol. 59, No. 3: 383-388) point to the needed attention on how men are living with the disease.

"Until recent years, there has not been that much focus on prostate cancer survivors as the focus has been primarily on detection," said Betty Ferrell, PhD, FAAN, an American Cancer Society (ACS) spokesperson and research scientist at City of Hope National Medical Center in Southern California.

"The population's aging," Ferrell said. "As more and more men have prostate cancer and it's diagnosed earlier, it will be really important that we learn how they cope."

"Prostate cancer is a very challenging condition," said David Ben-Tovim, MD, lead author of the article and scientist at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia. "Different people respond to life's challenges in different ways."

Ben-Tovim said measuring those coping styles using interviews and questionnaires could help health care providers understand what's important for the men they treat.

The researchers interviewed 80 men with prostate cancer, and found that the ways they dealt with cancer could be divided into five categories:

• positive problem solving (fighting against the illness, seeking information)
• self-reliance (developing a non-scientific explanation, distrusting doctors)
• emotional availability (not withdrawing from others)
• distress (brooding, self-pity)
• solace (taking alcohol or drugs to improve mood)

Although some of these reactions are similar to those found in people with other cancer types — such as breast cancer — the researchers said self-reliance and solace are more unique to this cancer and could have some significance.

Ben-Tovim said coping style could possibly influence the outcome for some men with prostate cancer.

"We don't know that yet," Ben-Tovim said. "I suspect that coping style influences the extent to which an individual allows his illness to influence his daily life. But we do not know if the underlying disease process is also being influenced."

The researchers would like to interview more men and keep track of them for a longer period of time. Ferrell agreed that many other studies are needed, especially to see if the tool will work in men from other countries and cultures.

"We don't yet know what the real [psycho-social] issues in prostate cancer are," Ferrell said. "I think the importance of this article is that it does at least make a compelling argument that issues of coping with prostate cancer are very likely different than breast cancer or general survivorship concerns. We need to do more of this work."

According to the ACS, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men — other than skin cancer — and is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, exceeded only by lung cancer. Although men of any age can get prostate cancer, more than 70% of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65.