Sexual well-being in cancer and palliative care: an assessment of healthcare professionals’ current practice and training needs

Abstract

This survey identified that sexual well-being in cancer and palliative care patients is not routinely assessed with the majority of respondents stating that further support and training would be beneficial. The results of this questionnaire will be used to inform and develop sexual well-being training for HCPs working with cancer and palliative care patients.

Addressing sexual issues in palliative care: A qualitative study on nurses’ attitudes, roles and experiences

“…Finally, we found tension about how "the empowerment of the patient/partner" was concretely translated in the nurse-patient relationship by taking more of an initiating or waiting attitude towards conversations about sexual issues. This study demonstrates how the underlying discourse from a specific nursing area might interact with the nurses' concrete attitudes and behaviour, thereby offering a broader perspective on the results of other studies on this subject, studies that mainly focus on personal factors such as assumptions, values and comfort or discomfort in individual nurses (Gleeson & Hazell, 2017;Magnan & Reynolds, 2006;Reese et al, 2017).…”

Healthcare professional perceived barriers and facilitators to discussing sexual wellbeing with patients after diagnosis of chronic illness: A mixed-methods evidence synthesis

“…These patterns appear to be consistent across different clinical groups, as well as in primary care. Health care providers also often feel unequipped to deal with sexual issues and suggest there is a lack of resources to offer patients and their partners if they do identify a problem [13]. Despite the barriers identified, it has been reported that within a primary care setting, patients frequently identified that information related to sexual care should be routinely provided and that they would not object to clinicians initiating the discussion [14].…”

A Pilot Study on the Quality of Sexual Life of Patients Receiving Home Palliative Care in Poland

“…The most common reasons for non-assessment are fear, lack of knowledge about specialist services to which patients may be referred, and lack of access to assessment tools. Health professionals also indicated a need for support and training in this area [15,16]. Additionally, common reasons reported by medical staff were lack of time, prioritizing disease management over conversations about sexual health, or lack of understanding that adults in the final stages of chronic illness and in older age may still value their sexuality [7,[16][17][18].…”