Abstract: Objective: To explore the effect of spouse-based self-disclosure intervention on psychological distress and intimate relationship in patients with prostate cancer during radiotherapy. Methods: By using convenient sampling method, 46 patients with prostate cancer during radiotherapy hospitalized in a tertiary tumor specialist hospital from April to August 2020 and their spouses were selected as the control group, and 43 patients hospitalized from April to August 2021 and their spouses were selected as experimental group. Chinese version of Distress Disclosure Index (DDI), 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and the Quality of Relationship Index (QRI) were used to evaluate before intervention, after intervention and 1 month and 3 months after discharge. Results: The results of repeated measure analysis of variance showed that the intergroup effect and time effect were statistically significant different in self-disclosure, psychological distress degree, the satisfaction of intimate relationship between the two groups (P<0.05), and the interaction effect between intervention and time factor was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Self-disclosure intervention can improve the satisfaction of intimate relationship in patients with prostate cancer during radiotherapy, and reduce the degree of psychological distress of patients.

Key words: prostate cancer; spouse; self-disclosure; psychological distress; intimate relationship