Can the provision of sexual healthcare for oncology patients be improved? A literature review of educational interventions for healthcare professionals

Abstract

Purpose Sexual health is an important quality-of-life concern for cancer patients and survivors, but a difficult discussion topic for patients and healthcare professionals. The most important barriers causing healthcare professionals to avoid the topic are lack of education and lack of knowledge. How effective education about sexual health is for oncology healthcare professionals is not clear. The aim of this review is to examine the effectiveness of interventions in improving the provision of sexual healthcare for cancer patients. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using the following data sources: PubMed, PsychInfo, Embase and Emcare. Quantitative research was included which contained pre-intervention and post-intervention outcomes. The assessment of the studies was conducted independently by two reviewers. A third reviewer was involved if there was no consensus. Results Seven studies were included. In total, 572 oncology healthcare professionals participated, including physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. Interventions consisted of 6 face-to-face sessions and one online program. Primary objectives of the studies were the assessment of improvement in knowledge about sexual health, improvement of practice, frequency of discussing sexual health and comfort level and the decline of perceived barriers to discussing sexual health. Studies showed that interventions resulted in improved realization of the objectives. Conclusions Although improvement in the knowledge of healthcare professionals was achieved, it was not possible to give an overall recommendation for the development of interventions due to the limited number of studies and heterogeneity of the data. Implications for Cancer Survivors Sexual health is an important area of survivorship that is often neglected. Many oncology healthcare professionals lack training and knowledge to provide such care. More evidence-based practices are needed to improve sexual healthcare for cancer survivors.

Sexual health among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors: A scoping review from the Children's Oncology Group Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Discipline Committee

“…Pediatric oncology clinicians who care for AYA cancer survivors describe a lack of experience discussing sexual health and recognize the need for further education regarding sexual health communication 57 . Educational interventions for oncology providers have demonstrated improvement in provider‐reported knowledge and practice, but the impact on patient‐reported outcomes has not been routinely evaluated 58 . The Educating Nurses about Reproductive Issues in Cancer Healthcare (ENRICH) has demonstrated success in educating providers about sexual health among oncology patients 59 .…”

“…57 Educational interventions for oncology providers have demonstrated improvement in provider-reported knowledge and practice, but the impact on patient-reported outcomes has not been routinely evaluated. 58 The Educating Nurses about Reproductive Issues in Cancer Healthcare (ENRICH) has demonstrated success in educating providers about sexual health among oncology patients. 59 Sexual communication models, including PLISSIT (Permission, Limited Information, Specific Suggestions, and Intensive Therapy) 60,61 can be helpful for providers to initiate sexual health discussions with patients.…”

Educational interventions to improve communication about sexual health between nurses and gynecologic oncology patients: A narrative review

“…Further examination of the references listed in the selected studies revealed three additional papers of interest, bringing the total to 11. Of these 11, two were systematic reviews (Albers et al, 2020;Papadopoulou et al, 2019) and nine were primary studies (i.e., one randomized controlled trial, seven pre-experimental quantitative studies and one descriptive qualitative study). Table 1 outlines the specific features of these interventions, formatted as per TIDieR guidelines (e.g., population, mode of delivery, training activities, intervention providers) (Hoffmann et al, 2014).…”

Les interventions éducationnelles pour améliorer la communication infirmière-patient en santé sexuelle auprès de la clientèle gynéco-oncologique : une revue narrative

“…La consultation de la liste des références des études retenues a permis de repérer trois articles supplémentaires pour un total de onze. Parmi ceux-ci figurent deux revues systématiques (Albers et al, 2020;Papadopoulou et al, 2019) et neuf études primaires (c.-à-d. un essai randomisé contrôlé, sept études quantitatives de type pré-expérimental et une étude qualitative descriptive). Le tableau 1 décrit les spécificités relatives à ces interventions selon les recommandations du TIDieR (ex.…”