This study analyzes the meanings that men with intestinal stoma attribute to their colorectal cancer experience and its treatment. The medical anthropology framework, gender identity and the ethnographic methods were used. A total of 16 men from 40 to 79 years of age, residents in Ribeirão Preto and neighboring cities, SP, Brazil participated in the study. Data collection was carried out through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Two groups of meanings were selected through inductive data analysis: acknowledging the severity of the disease and the distress of having cancer, and being submitted to surgery and suffering from a stoma. These meanings revealed the tension that develops between traditional patterns of masculinity and the new identities resulting from the experience. The understanding of these meanings from a cultural perspective favors nurse-patient communication and enables planning of care appropriate to these patients' needs.
colorectal neoplasms; nursing; culture; gender identity