Genital Herpes: Gender Comparisons and the Disease Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine gender differences in the disease experience of persons who have genital herpes. Participants were 60 volunteers (34 females, 26 males) with recurrent genital herpes. Their average age was 31.7 years and the average length of time since diagnosis was 5.3 years. They completed questionnaires that included items about disease characteristics, disease stressors, and disease impact. The majority of reported stressors related to the consequences of the disease. A wide diversity of stressors were described, and results gave evidence of gender similarities in the disease experience. Exceptions were that women reported experiencing more worry with regard to negative effects on future and present health, disruption of daily activity, and disease symptoms. Men reported that recurrences last longer. Both disease symptoms and the presence of an intimate relationship were related to the perceived disease impact. Implications for sensitive interventions are discussed.

Psychosocial Outcomes in Individuals Living With Genital Herpes

“…Several researchers have examined quality of life as an outcome measure in herpes patients, finding generally that higher numbers of outbreaks were associated with lower quality of life scores (Patel et al, 2001;Spencer, Leplege, & Ecosse, 1999;Wild, Patrick, Johnson, Berson, & Wald, 1995). Other researchers have identified herpes-specific stressors, such as difficulty in intimate relationships, fear of transmission, disruption of daily activity, and worry about negative health effects (Jadack, Keller, & Hyde, 1990;Keller, Jadack, & Mims, 1991).…”

Gender Differences in Sarcoidosis: Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Medical Consumption

“…Several reviews described gender differences in cause-specific mortality and morbidity (e.g., Verbrugge, 1985;Wingard & Cohn, 1990). For instance, gender differences were studied regarding aspects of QOL in cardiac patients (Kinney, Burfitt, Stullenbarger, Rees, & Debolt, 1996), elderly carers (Draper, Poulos, Poulos, & Ehrlich, 1996), genital herpes patients (Jadack, Keller, & Hyde, 1990), and patients with mental disorders (Linzer et al, 1996).…”

Web top 10

“…15 The interviews were coded using both themes drawn from previous research [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and themes that emerged from initial review of the transcripts. The codes were readjusted and refined in a series of iterative cycles to test and build theoretical models.…”