Abstract
The purpose of the study was to explore the role of religion in meaning making and coping among a group of black patients receiving some form of prostate cancer treatment at a public hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A sample of 20 prostate cancer survivors, with ages ranging from 67 to 85 years (meanage = 76yrs; SD = 5.3) selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings demonstrated that religion is an important factor in meaning making and coping by prostate cancer survivors. The findings suggest that healthcare practitioners need to pay close attention to the meanings that cancer patients assign to their illness to provide the appropriate care and support.
Highlights
Prostate cancer (PCa) is fast becoming an emerging public health concern in Africa
In the light of this apparent paucity of literature on this subject, the purpose of our study was to explore the role of religion in meaning making and coping among a group of black patients receiving some form of prostate cancer treatment at a public hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa
The present study aimed to explore how elderly black South African prostate cancer patients rely on their faiths during their illness experience and survivorship
Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) is fast becoming an emerging public health concern in Africa. The only well-established risk factors for PCa are older age (< 65 years of age), black race/ethnicity, and a family history of the disease (Rebbeck et al, 2013; Tindall et al, 2014). Men of African descent worldwide have been shown to be disproportionately affected by PCa than any other race group (Seraphin et al, 2021; Table 1) and that the disease is a leading cause of cancer (and cancer-related deaths) among Sub-Saharan African men (Seraphin et al, 2021; Table 2). In South Africa, the incidence of PCa in 2007 was 29.4 per 100 000, with black men having a disproportionately higher incidence rate than any other racial group (Babb et al, 2014).
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