Prostate cancer and its treatment have long-term implications for menââ?¬â?¢s lives. We aimed to describe\nthe content, extent, and frequency of written comments to the open-ended question, ââ?¬Å?Further\ncomments?ââ?¬Â in the patient-reported outcome measures questionnaire. During the study period,\n897 men participated; 372 wrote 747 free-text comments in the questionnaire. These comments\nwere analysed using qualitative content analysis and were grouped into four categories: 1)\nprostate cancerââ?¬â?¢s influence on health; 2) clarifications of answers to the survey; 3) descriptions of\nwell-being despite the cancer; and 4) experiences of care and the need for contact with health care.\nThe distribution of the comments shifted over time. The open-ended question not only allowed the\nparticipants to explain their other responses and describe important aspects of their lives during\nand after treatment, something not normally covered by a questionnaire, but it also indicated\ntheir experiences of health care services along the patientsââ?¬â?¢ PC-trajectory. This further raises the\nissue of including an open-ended item in a forced-choice survey into the ethical realm to ensure\nthat proper care is taken of participantsââ?¬â?¢ answers and thoughts.
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