 Conventional wisdom holds that men bottle up their emotions, show the world a strong image, and try to fix problems, while women tend to share their feelings openly and support one another emotionally. While these gender differences may seem like stereotypes, researchers have found men and women cope with cancer in different ways.
An article published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (Vol. 91, No. 20) reported on the findings of a University of Delaware study tracking the types of questions most posed by Internet support groups. The study found the men-only group for prostate cancer posed information-giving and information-seeking questions 80 percent of the time. The all-female breast cancer support group discussed personal experiences and were twice as likely to give each other encouragement and support as the male group.
"It is true that women respond more to support groups than men do," said Frank Baker, PhD, vice president for behavioral research and director of the Behavioral Research Center at the American Cancer Society (ACS). "Some men may prefer to read material in pamphlets or in books. Men are supposed to be strong and silent and not to share with one another," he said.
Last year, Suzanne L. Dibble, DNSc, a researcher at the Institute for Health and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues published a study that suggested different quality of life measurements for women and men. Quality of life measurements help doctors determine the types of treatment options best suited to patients. According to Dr. Dibble, a one-size-fits all survey may not be appropriate.
"Psychosocial issues are more important for women and vitality issues are more important for men. Men need to take care of things and to work," said Dr. Dibble. "Personal resources and vitality are more important for men. They have to take care of their family and have all of their ducks in a row. Women need to feel loved and cared for; they are not as worried about fixing things," she added.
But Dr. Baker warns against researchers designing men-only and women-only measurements, such as questionnaires and surveys, to assess quality of life issues. Other factors need to be taken into consideration ? such as age, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and educational levels, he said.
"We need quality of life measures to work with Hispanic Americans and African Americans or with people with less skills in reading ? but for both sexes," he explained.
ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related
news and are not intended to be used as
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