Improving partnership to improve health outcomes

The word prostate cancer (PCa) can evoke very different meanings and scenarios in the actors that are involved in the clinical consultation. For the doctor, the word can refer to abnormalities of the structure and function of body organs and systems that he is called to restore. For the patient, the same word can mean a strange feeling of powerlessness and anxiety or something to fight. During the clinical visit, the attention – both of patients and doctors – is on the ill part of the body. The main expected work of the doctor is to define the optimal treatment, and the main one of the patient is to adhere to this optimal treatment. However, this medical vision does not reflect entirely what really happens during the clinical consultation. Scholars and clinicians are more and more recognizing that curing the disease is not always only a medical matter. Indeed, what patients feel and experience concerning their disease and the relationship they establish with the disease can make the difference in the disease course and substantially change the clinical pathway. Patients might consequently choose not to adhere to treatments, or conversely can be highly engaged in healthpromoting behaviours and reduce the burden of the disease. The question now is how can patients and doctors become partners in navigating the illness journey.