RATIONALE: Questionnaires that measure anxiety, depression, and quality of life may improve the ability to plan treatment for patients with prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying anxiety, depression, and quality of life in African-American patients with prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• To establish the psychometric properties of the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) in African American men with prostate cancer.
• To establish the reliability of the MAX-PC in African American men with prostate cancer.
• To establish the validity of the MAX-PC in African American men with prostate cancer.
• To confirm the factor structure of the MAX-PC in this sample.
• To test the sensitivity to change of the MAX-PC in this sample.

Secondary

• To explore the prevalence of distress, anxiety, and depression in African American men with prostate cancer.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

All patients complete a 5-minute Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) questionnaire measuring general prostate cancer anxiety, PSA anxiety, and fear of recurrence either in person or by phone. They will complete six other questionnaires, each requiring 5 minutes to complete, and focusing on anxiety, depression, and quality of life measures. These include the demographic questionnaire; the Distress Thermometer visual analogue scale; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-Prostate (FACT-P); the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) assessing the frequency of depressive symptoms the patient experienced in the past week; and the Karnofsky Patient Performance Rating Scale (KPRS). Within 1 week after receiving their PSA test results, some patients will undergo an additional telephone interview conducted by a research study assistant to complete the MAX-PC, the HADS, and the Distress Thermometer questionnaires.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 150 patients (75 patients with early stage disease and 75 patients with late stage disease) will be accrued for this study.

• Anxiety Disorder
• Depression
• Prostate Cancer

• Other: medical chart review
• Other: questionnaire administration
• Procedure: psychosocial assessment and care
• Procedure: quality-of-life assessment

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of prostate cancer

  • Early stage disease (T1or T2, N0, M0)

  • Advanced stage disease meeting 1 of the following criteria:

    • Locally advanced disease (T3 or T4, N0, M0)
    • Metastatic disease (T3 or T4, N1-3 or M1a-c)
• Undergoing monitoring for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels

• Men who identify themselves as Black, African-American, or men of African descent and non-Hispanic will be eligible for the study

  • "Black, African American, or of African descent" will be defined as men having origins in any black racial groups of Africa
  • "Haitian" will be used in addition to "Black" or "African American" to help clarify this group

  • Men who identify themselves as Black and Hispanic are included

    • "Hispanic" will be defined as a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin
    • "Latino" and "Spanish origin" will be used in addition to "Hispanic" to help clarify this group
• No other non-Black or non-African American ethnic groups

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Able to comprehend and complete questionnaires in English
• No major psychopathology or cognitive impairment likely, in the judgment of the research staff, to interfere with the participation or completion of the protocol

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• Not specified