Objectives: To systematically review the literature to identify the influence of health literacy on self-management behaviours and patient-reported outcomes of individuals with prostate cancer.
Methods: A mixed methods systematic was review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for systematic reviews. This review is reported according to PRISMA 2020 statement. Six electronic databases (Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus) were searched in December 2023 using the key terms "prostate cancer" and "health literacy."
Results: Ten articles describing nine studies were included. The findings indicate that, among those living with a prostate cancer diagnosis, there is a significant association between low health literacy and poorer self-management behaviours and patient-reported outcomes, including poorer quality of life, greater fear of progression and treatment regret. Among the included studies, there was high variability in how low health literacy was measured, evaluated and reported, limiting the ability to draw robust comparisons between the levels of health literacy across the included studies.
Conclusions: This review establishes a relationship between low health literacy and a range of health outcomes for prostate cancer survivors. Further research is needed to consolidate this evidence using validated, comprehensive health literacy measures consistently across studies.
Implications for nursing practice: Cancer nurses have a critical role in supporting access, interpretation and utilisation of health information in the self-management of cancer-related effects. Cancer nurses should use universal precautions when communicating with those living with prostate cancer, assuming that anyone may have health literacy difficulties and adjust communication accordingly. Additionally, cancer nurses should also aim to embed information regarding self-management behaviours in routine care for this population.
Objectives: Positive dyadic coping helps cancer couples address health challenges, and illness perception is closely linked to coping strategy choices. Prior research predominantly examined individual-level associations. Our study aims to explore the interactive associations between illness perception, its dissimilarities, and dyadic coping in cancer couples.
Methods: We recruited 263 cancer couples from hospitals (November 2022 and December 2023) using convenience sampling. Participants completed the Dyadic Coping Inventory and the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. We applied the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model and constructed the Dyadic Dissimilarity Model using AMOS 24.0.
Results: Patients with cancer and their spouses exhibited a moderate degree of dyadic coping. Patients' dyadic coping showed actor effects with cognitive representations (β = -0.194, P = .016) and partner effects with emotional representations (β = 0.173, P = .023), as well as with illness comprehensibility (β = -0.264, P = .001). Spouses' dyadic coping exhibited actor effects with cognitive representations (β = -0.198, P = .007) and illness comprehensibility (β = -0.287, P = .001), and a partner effect with emotional representations (β = 0.206, P = .01). Dyadic coping correlated significantly with dissimilarities in cognitive representations and illness comprehensibility.
Conclusions: Dyadic coping correlates with both individuals' and their partners' illness perceptions, and couples' dissimilarity in illness perception also impacts dyadic coping.
Implications for nursing practice: Healthcare professionals should adopt dyadic assessments to identify dissimilarities in illness perceptions between cancer patients and their spouses. Developing targeted interventions to align cognitive representations and facilitate shared illness comprehensibility is crucial, which can enhances dyadic coping.

