To develop and pretest an European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Sexual Health Questionnaire (EORTC SHQ‐22) for the assessment of physical, psychological, and social aspects of sexual health (SH) in male and female cancer patients and survivors. Questionnaire construction started with creating a list of relevant SH issues based on a comprehensive literature review. Issues were subsequently evaluated for relevance and prioritization by 78 healthcare professionals (HCP) and 107 patients from 12 countries during in‐depth interviews (phase 1). Extracted issues were operationalized into items (phase 2). Phase 3 focused on pretesting the preliminary questionnaire in a cross‐cultural patient sample (n = 171) using debriefing interviews. Psychometric properties were preliminary determined using a principal component analysis and Cronbach's alpha. We derived 53 relevant SH issues from the literature. Based on HCP and patient interviews, 22 of these 53 issues were selected and operationalized into items. Testing the preliminary 22‐item short questionnaire resulted in a change of wording in five items and two communication‐related items; no items were removed. Preliminary psychometric analysis revealed a two‐factor solution and 11 single items; both scales showed good reliability indicated by a Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 (sexual satisfaction) and 0.82 (sexual pain). Cross‐cultural pretesting of the preliminary EORTC SH questionnaire has indicated excellent applicability, patient acceptance, and comprehensiveness as well as good psychometric properties. The final development phase, that is psychometric validation (phase four) including large‐scale, cross‐cultural field testing of the EORTC SHQ‐22, has commenced.
This study is clearly reassuring, as we found that anti-inflammatory drugs and any other medicines taken by the woman were not implicated in IUD failure. Only a history of previous IUD expulsion was found to be a risk factor for failure, indicating that these women should have regular medical and echographical follow-up. Comparing the efficacy rate of various types of IUDs, we found a clear advantage for levonorgestrel-releasing devices.
Results emphasize various levels for improving existing oncosexology care, such as developing oncosexology-specific educational and practical training programs, particularly for paramedics; consolidating information, counseling, and therapeutic education with formal procedures like implementing medical and paramedical "oncosexology moments," or strengthening the community-hospital networks, from diagnosis to survivorship.
Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is accompanied by specific treatment-related physical (ostomy, incontinence) and psychosexual (body image, depression) consequences on sexual health.Aim: An assessment of sexual health of CRC patients 2 years after diagnosis.
Methods:We selected all CRC patients of a French nationwide longitudinal study. Data sources included patient questionnaires, medical questionnaires and medico-administrative databases.Outcomes: We evaluated sexual health using the Relationship and Sexuality Scale and assessed self-reported rates of discussion about sexuality with health care providers.Results: Across the 487 patients, 258 were men and 229 were women, with 77% diagnosed with colon cancer and 23% with rectal cancer. Overall, 54% of patients reported a decrease in sexual desire, 61% a decrease in frequency of intercourse, and 48% a decrease in the possibility to reach an orgasm. Patients still experiencing fecal incontinence 2 years after diagnosis have all sexual desire, intercourse, orgasm and satisfaction RSS items decreased.Rectal cancer patients had significantly more frequent desire and orgasm troubles than colon cancer patients (p=.003; p=.014, respectively). Regarding the discussion about sexuality, only 20% of men and 11% of women; 11% of colon cancer and 33% of rectal cancer patient recalled having discussed sexuality with the medical team. Factors independently increasing the chance to have discussed sexuality with the medical team were being younger (OR=2.77 [1.31; 5.84], p=.007), having an ostomy (OR=2. 93 [1.27; 6.73], p=.011) and radiotherapy (OR=2. 78 [1.23; 6.27], p=.014).Clinical Implications: These results highlight the need for developing interventions to improve information delivery at cancer announcement and for managing sexual troubles during survivorship in CRC patients, particularly those experiencing fecal incontinence.
Strengths & Limitations:Strengths are the sample size, the national representativeness using the data of a large-scale nation-wide survey, the possibility to compare colon and rectal cancers. Limits are the assessment of sexuality 2 years after diagnosis, using only selfreported measures.
Conclusion:This study highlights the lack of discussion about sexuality with the oncology team and the need for specific sexual rehabilitation interventions, especially for patients with rectal cancer and fecal incontinence. Developing these aspects may help CRC patients improve their sexual prognosis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.