Objective To gain an in-depth understanding of the stress experience and coping strategies of patients during their home recovery period after radical prostatectomy (RP), and to provide a reference basis for improving their home adaptation ability and optimizing home recovery intervention strategies.

Methods A descriptive qualitative study was conducted. Using purposive sampling, patients who had RP in Department of Urology of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School from November 2024 to January 2025 were selected for semi-structured interviews, and directed content analysis was conducted based on the contents of the interviews.

Results A total of 16 patients were interviewed, from which 3 themes and 7 sub-themes were identified: the multiple stressors of home-based recovery (physical dysfunction, self-identity crisis, and gaps in ongoing care), distorted cognitive appraisal (misreading of one's own condition and available resources), and diverging coping strategies (either active, goal-oriented efforts or avoidance and passive endurance).

Conclusion Stress experience and coping strategies of patients during home-based recovery after RP exhibit multidimensional and complex characteristics. Clinical nursing should move beyond a single model of physical rehabilitation guidance and place equal importance on patients' psychological status; emotional counseling, multi-source support channels, and refined home-based rehabilitation guidance can improve stress coping capacity and postoperative quality of life.

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