The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse men's experience of testicular cancer, the interaction with caregivers during the course of the disease and in the subsequent medical care process and the attitude of close relatives during this period and how they describe their life during the medical care process.

The results reported in article I describe, on the basis of audio-taped dialogues between patients and physicians and interviews between patients and physicians, the impact the medical care program SWENOTECA has on the interaction between patient and physician and on how the patients experience their disease and the follow-up of care and treatment. As a result of the medical care program SWENOTECA, oncological care and treatment is framed in a structured care context which gives the patients a perspective of the future and very much influences their sense of safety and security. Article II describes how, in interviews, men reconstructed their discovery of a testicular tumour, how they express their thoughts about and attitudes towards cancer. The men have a functionally oriented approach to their body, which means that the ability to work and carry out their day-to-day duties is a more important sign that they are not ill than are individual physical changes in an organ. In article III, the audio-taped dialogues between patients and physicians have been analysed in order to determine how routinization in the dialogue affects the patient's ability to talk about sensitive subjects and bring up questions and problems on his own initiative. A consequence of the routinised medical care context is that follow-up consultations between patients and physicians focus on restoring trust in the value of the check-ups and the prospects of the disease being cured. In article IV, interviews with close relatives of men treated for testicular cancer are analysed. In these interviews, the parties discussed how cancer affected family life and daily routines as well as how relationships and closeness developed and what the future held. Testicular cancer is something that very much affects the men's close relatives. They do not regard themselves, or are regarded by others, as people with needs of their own and the sorrow and fear they feel results in social isolation during the period of the disease.