Man to man and side by side, they cope with prostate cancer: self-help and social support.

Prostate cancer affects men and their loved ones; consequently, survivors and their wives can gain from social support throughout the illness experience. After observing meetings of a support group for prostate cancer survivors and their partners, the authors used the constant comparison method to draw conclusions about the types of support generated in the men's and women's divisions of the group. The authors concluded that both divisions served as sites of information but not as scenes of practical assistance. The authors also found that the discursive practices of the groups and the structural elements of the group meetings inhibited emotional support through topic turning, comparisons between members, and the role of group facilitators. The authors consider the study's implications for support group leaders and scholars.