Exploring Sexual Attitudes of Students in Health Professions

Abstract

Introduction Patients' sexual concerns are frequently underestimated because of health professionals' reluctance to address sexual health issues. Though it has been documented that sexual attitudes are extremely influential in everyday clinical practice, limited data exist on identifying health professionals' attitudes. Aim To explore sexual attitudes in medical students and students in allied health professions. Main Outcome Measures The Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI)–Attitude Subscale was used to assess sexual attitudes. Methods The sample included 1st and 4th year college students enrolled in the following academic departments/schools of two academic institutions leading to health professions: medical school, psychology, pharmaceutical school, nursing and midwifery. Demographic data were obtained relating to sexual behaviors and information sources on sexual issues. Data were analyzed using independent samples t-test and two-way analysis of variance, as well as logistic regression and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results A total of 714 students (81.9% females) participated in the study: 48.5% 1st year students and 51.5% seniors with a mean age of 20.17 years (SD=1.87, range 17–25). Using iterative cluster analysis on DSFI scores, participants were divided in conservative (N=167), liberal (N=224), and neutral (N=323) clusters. A significant gender difference on sexual attitudes was obtained (P <0.001) with male students being more liberal compared to females (mean=18.26 and mean=11.13, respectively). Differences were also revealed for the field but not for the year of study. Analysis also revealed that liberalism in sexual attitudes is more likely to be affected by a liberal stance toward religion (OR: 2.39), receiving information for sexual matters mainly from peers (OR: 1.86), and media influence on students' sexual life (OR: 1.68). Conclusions Gender, personal values, and experiences influence students' attitudes toward sexual issues. Since negative attitudes can impede effective sexual health consultations, it is imperative to incorporate courses on effective communication and human sexuality in the medical and allied health professions curricula that will enhance students' awareness of their own values and prejudices.

Health Care Students' Attitudes Toward Addressing Sexual Health in Their Future Profession: Validity and Reliability of a Questionnaire

“…Earlier research has shown that patients with chronic conditions often rate their sexual health as important, but neglected by health care professionals (Bitzer, Platano, Tschudin, & Alder, 2007;Papaharitou et al, 2008), despite research showing that health care providers can moderate the sexual expression of persons suffering from chronic disease (O'Dea, Shuttleworth, & Wedgwood, 2012), and the patients have a right to have eventual sexual problems thoughtfully identified and addressed (Krebs, 2007). Maintaining professional boundaries is essential when working with sexual health, and students in health care professions need to have sufficient knowledge of how to work with sexual health and to feel confident that they are still upholding professional boundaries, despite the sensitive subject and the hands-on practice that nursing and rehabilitation often include (Soundy, Stubbs, Jenkins, & Cooper, 2013).…”

“…Gender, patient's age, personal values, and experiences influence students' attitudes toward sexual issues, and negative attitudes can impede effective sexual health consultations (Areskoug-Josefsson & Gard, 2015;Krebs, 2007). Awareness has to be raised of the students' own values and prejudices and knowledge of their attitudes towards working with sexual health, in order to address those issues with increased knowledge and competence (Krebs, 2007;Papaharitou et al, 2008;Sung, Huang, & Lin, 2015).…”

“…Gender, patient's age, personal values, and experiences influence students' attitudes toward sexual issues, and negative attitudes can impede effective sexual health consultations (Areskoug-Josefsson & Gard, 2015;Krebs, 2007). Awareness has to be raised of the students' own values and prejudices and knowledge of their attitudes towards working with sexual health, in order to address those issues with increased knowledge and competence (Krebs, 2007;Papaharitou et al, 2008;Sung, Huang, & Lin, 2015).Understanding of one's own personal sexual attitudes and previous communicative training are To investigate the attitudes of health care students towards working with sexual health in their future professions, there was a need to develop a new questionnaire. There are questionnaires used to explore university students' attitudes concerning sexuality, sexual preferences, and sexual activities as such, but they do not cover attitudes towards working with sexual health promotion (Nemcic et al, 2005;Reynolds & Magnan, 2005).…”

Health Care Students’ Attitudes Towards Working with Sexual Health in Their Professional Roles: Survey of Students at Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Programmes

“…Areskoug-Josefsson & Oberg, 2009;Egan et al, 2013;Josefsson & Gard, 2012;Rosenbaum, 2006). To provide sufficient sexual health rehabilitation, health care professionals need not only to recognize the biomedical view of sexual health, which is common among health professionals, but also to incorporate in their caring practice the biopsychosocial model of sexual health (Papaharitou et al, 2008;Penwell-Waines et al, 2014). In this study the definition of sexual health by the World Health Organization will be used (World Health Organization, 2006 In the study by Haboubi and Lincoln, health professionals agreed that sexual health could be part of care and rehabilitation for patients, but there was a need for more knowledge and education concerning sexual health and communication about sexual health issues (Coleman et al, 2013;Haboubi & Lincoln, 2003).…”

Students from both universities pointed out the lack of knowledge on different aspects of sexuality

“…Obecnie jedno z podstawowych źródeł informacji z zakresu seksualności stanowią mass media, a przede wszystkim Internet [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Ten ostatni jako forma samokształcenia oprócz zapewnienia anonimowości posiada wiele innych zalet, takich jak niskie koszty czy brak dyskryminacji, a co więcej, najczęściej nie wymaga mobilności i jest łatwo dostępny [20].…”