INTRODUCTION: @entity1 diagnosed with @entity263 ( @entity263 ) can receive supportive care from an array of sources including female partners and @entity263 support groups (PCSGs). However, little is known about how heterosexual gender relations and supportive care play out among couples who attend PCSGs. Distilling such gender relation patterns is a key to understanding and advancing supportive care for @entity1 who experience @entity263 and their families. PURPOSE: This study describes connections between heterosexual gender relations and @entity263 supportive care among couples who attend PCSGs. METHOD: In-depth, individual interviews with 30 @entity1 (15 @entity1 treated for @entity263 and their female partners) were analyzed using interpretive descriptive methods. Couples were asked about their relationships, supportive care needs, and attendance at PCSGs. A heterosexual gender relations framework was used to theorize the findings. RESULTS: Findings showed that traditional heterosexual gender relations guided most couples' @entity263 -related support both in and out of PCSGs. Three themes were inductively derived: "Not pushing too hard"-balancing @entity1 's support with @entity1 's autonomy, "Confreres"- @entity1 supporting @entity1 at PCSGs, and " @entity1 are better at reassuring"-support from and for @entity1 . CONCLUSIONS: Couples both aligned to and resisted traditional gender roles to accommodate, explain, and rationalize how, as a couple, they approached @entity263 supportive care needs.

XXXX support groups: a gender relations analysis.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'women', 'Women', 'Men', 'men'] @entity263 :: ('MESH:D011471', 'Disease') :: ['prostate cancer', 'PCa']
@entity263 :: (MESH:D011471,Disease) :: ['Heterosexual couples and prostate cancer']
