Worldwide, millions of men are living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Their survival rates are high because of medical advances such as robot-assisted surgeries, targeted radiation therapy, hormone-blocking treatments, new chemotherapy regimes and genomic profiling.
Yet research continues to show that men and the doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who look after them report the experience of prostate cancer treatment as challenging and uncoordinated. Survivorship care provision is fragmented, under-resourced, and often distressing for the patient. A man’s quality of life in prostate cancer survivorship remains poor for far too many.
Facing the Tiger is an Australian-developed psychological care approach to improve the quality of prostate cancer survivorship by providing evidence-based support materials to health professionals and patients for use in everyday cancer care.
Compared with the general population, men with prostate cancer are twice as likely to experience depression and three times more likely to experience anxiety. They have a 70% greater risk of suicide. Yet their distress is often hidden as many men are reluctant to ask for psychological help or admit to significant personal distress.
Facing the Tiger helps health professionals working with prostate cancer patients provide appropriate psychological support within their existing skill set and professional capabilities. It is an easy-to-implement yet powerful approach developed from decades of world-leading psycho-oncology research and practice by Professor Suzanne Chambers AO and colleagues. It is appropriate for use in a range of medical settings and does not require extra staff.
Facing the Tiger emphasises using the Australian-developed Psychosocial Care Model for Men with Prostate Cancer and the Prostate Cancer Survivorship Essentials Framework.
Here’s how it works.
Facing the Tiger 