Masculinity and urogenital cancer: sensitive issues in health care.

Contemp Nurse. 2007 Feb;24(1):79-88.
Nobis R, Sand I, Elofsson K.

Department of Nursing, Health and Culture, University West, Trollhattan, Sweden.

The aim of this literature review was to analyse the approaches adopted by patients, health professionals, spouses and other care-givers towards sensitive issues related to male urogenital cancer, and to describe how these findings can be applied in health care practice. The findings revealed five identifiable domains, namely ‘the barrier to talking’, ‘the barrier of sensitivity’, ‘the barrier of masculinity’, ‘the barrier to seeking health care’ and ‘the communicative barrier’. The conclusion was that the phenomenon of a barrier is strongly connected with hegemonic masculinity. The review of literature confirmed that, for many men, talking about genitally-related health problems is not easy and that health care professionals need to learn more about gender and masculinity in order to address urogenitally sensitive issues.

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