Nursing intervention strategies and outcome measures for sexual health in patients with prostate cancer: a scoping review protocol
This scoping review protocol outlines a study using Joanna Briggs Institute methodology to identify, describe, and map nursing intervention strategies and their outcome measures for sexual health in men with prostate cancer, aiming to address the current heterogeneity in this field without requiring ethics approval.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
For many men, a diagnosis of prostate cancer brings a complex set of challenges that extend far beyond the immediate fight against the disease itself. While modern medicine has become highly effective at managing the tumor and ensuring survival, the journey often leaves behind a different kind of burden: the disruption of sexual health. This is not merely about the ability to achieve an erection, a common concern that often dominates the conversation. Instead, sexual health encompasses a wider landscape of human experience, including the desire for intimacy, the physical sensation of orgasm, the confidence in one's own body, and the quality of connection with a partner. Treatments such as surgery, radiation, or hormone therapy can alter these aspects in profound and lasting ways, sometimes for years after the initial diagnosis. Because these changes touch on such deeply personal and relational parts of life, patients often need more than just medical fixes; they need ongoing support to navigate these shifts. Nurses, who are frequently the most consistent point of contact for patients throughout their care, are uniquely positioned to offer this guidance, yet the specific ways they help and the methods used to measure success have remained somewhat scattered and unclear.
This is the precise gap that a new research plan, known as a scoping review protocol, aims to fill. The researchers, a team of urology specialists and nurses, are setting out to map the entire field of nursing care dedicated to sexual health for men with prostate cancer. Their goal is not to test a single new treatment or to declare one specific method the best solution. Instead, they intend to gather and organize all the existing studies that describe how nurses have tried to help these men. They will look at the wide variety of strategies currently in use, ranging from structured educational sessions and psychological counseling to physical rehabilitation exercises and digital support tools. By collecting this information, the team hopes to create a clear picture of what is already being done, how different approaches are delivered, and, crucially, how the success of these efforts is being measured.
The researchers are particularly interested in understanding the tools used to evaluate these interventions. In the current landscape, studies often focus heavily on physical function, such as erectile capability, while potentially overlooking other vital areas like emotional distress, relationship satisfaction, or a man's sense of self. The team plans to examine whether the methods used to measure outcomes match the broad scope of the problems nurses are trying to solve. They will review data from randomized trials, non-randomized studies, and study protocols from around the world, without limiting their search to any specific language or region. This comprehensive approach allows them to see the full range of evidence, including studies that might be too different from one another to be combined into a single statistical average.
What this paper does not do is provide a final list of the best nursing interventions or a definitive answer on which approach works best. Because this is a protocol—a plan for a future study—it does not yet contain results or conclusions. Instead, it lays out the rigorous roadmap the team will follow to ensure their final review is thorough and unbiased. They have decided to skip the step of judging the quality or risk of error in the individual studies they find, choosing instead to focus on describing the landscape of evidence as it exists. This decision allows them to include a broader range of information, ensuring that no potentially useful strategy is overlooked simply because it was tested in a smaller or less controlled setting. The team will also exclude studies that do not have a clear nursing component or those that focus only on the prevalence of sexual problems without testing an intervention.
By the time this review is complete, the authors expect to have a detailed catalog of nursing strategies and the specific instruments used to measure their impact. This work is designed to help other healthcare professionals, researchers, and policy-makers understand the current state of care. It will highlight where the evidence is strong and, perhaps more importantly, where there are gaps—areas where nurses are trying to help but where the tools to measure success are missing or inconsistent. The ultimate aim is to provide a solid foundation for developing better, more consistent care that addresses the full spectrum of sexual health, ensuring that men living with prostate cancer receive support that honors both their physical recovery and their emotional well-being.
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