Discussing Sexuality with Cancer Patients: Oncology Nurses Attitudes and Views

Abstract

Background: Sexual health and function frequently are overlooked by healthcare professionals despite being identified as an essential aspect of patient care. Patients with cancer have identified sexuality issues as being of equal importance to other quality-of-life issues. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the views and attitudes of oncology nurses caring for cancer patients regarding sexual counseling. Participants and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the web site of the Turkish Oncology Nurses Association. With the participation of 87 nurses from oncology departments, the study determined that most nurses do not evaluate and counsel patients regarding their sexual problems and many difficulties prevent them from focussing on sexual health. The most important reasons for ignoring sexual counseling were the absence of routine regarding sexual counseling in oncology departments, the belief that the patient may become ashamed and the nurses' self-evaluation that they have insufficient skills and education to counsel in this subject. Conclusions: The most important variables in sexual evaluation and counseling are long years of service in the profession and a postgraduate degree.

Patient-provider communication about sexual concerns in cancer: a systematic review

“…The majority of included studies (62%) used a self-report survey measure to assess prevalence of CSC [28, 37, 41–44, 46, 47, 50, 52–55, 57–61]; only one of these included a reference to a prior validation study [57]. Seven studies (24%) assessed prevalence of CSC through patient interviews [25, 26, 38, 39, 49, 51, 62].…”

“…In the five studies with provider-level data on assessing patients’ sexual concerns [25, 26, 59, 61], the average prevalence was 21%; however, the prevalence differed by patient gender. Specifically, in a study of oncology nurses [59], the prevalence of asking male patients about erectile dysfunction was higher (52%) compared to the prevalence of asking female patients about vaginal dryness.…”

“…Across the two studies with provider-level data on non-specific communication, the average prevalence was 42% [25, 61]. …”

Nurses' attitudes towards support for and communication about sexual health—A qualitative study from the perspectives of oncological nurses

“…Although quantitative and qualitative studies show there is a general view among nurses that sexual health is an important area, nurses rarely talk about sexual health. This is due to, for example, absence of routine , lack of skills and education in sexual health, age differences or a belief that the patient may become ashamed (Moore et al, ; Oskay, Can, & Basgol, ; Saunamäki, Andersson, & Engström, ; Williams, Hauck, & Bosco, ). Younger and less experienced nurses have greater discomfort in discussing sexual health with patients than older nurses as shown by Julien, Thom, and Kline () in a quantitative descriptive study of 576 nurses and Klouwel et al's () questionnaire study of 477 nurses.…”

Kemoterapi Tedavisi Gören Kanser Hastalarının Cinsellik Algılarının ve Cinsel Bakım Gereksinimlerinin Belirlenmesi

“…Cinsellik biyolojik, psikolojik ve sosyal boyutlarıyla ele alınması gereken, sosyal kurallardan ve değer yargılarından etkilenen, ataerkil toplumlarda tabu olarak algılanabilen temel insan gereksinimlerinden biridir (1,2). Kanser tanısı konulmasından sonra uygulanan tıbbi ve cerrahi tedavinin bireylerin yaşam kalitesi üzerine pek çok olumsuz etkisi olduğu gibi, cinsel sağlık üzerine de etkileri bulunmaktadır (3).…”