Talking or avoiding? Mental health nurses' views about discussing sexual health with consumers

Abstract

Mental health consumers are sexual beings; however, their sexual desire, capacity, and ability to maintain previous sexual patterns can be altered by their illness or by the effects and side-effects of medications. The sexuality of consumers has been poorly addressed, and the limited evidence suggests that mental health nurses remain ambivalent to including sexuality in their care. This paper presents the findings of a research project investigating the practices of mental health nurses in assessing and supporting the sexuality of consumers. A qualitative, exploratory approach underpinned individual interviews with 14 mental health nurses from inpatient and community settings. The participants acknowledged the importance of sexuality; however, most were reluctant to enquire about consumer concerns and tended to either ignore the issue or refer it to another clinician. Four themes were identified: talking about or avoiding sexuality concerns with consumers; sexuality is not an important priority; refer to others, as talking about sexuality is not 'my' job; and sexuality is poorly addressed by others. It is important that barriers to the assessment and discussion of sexuality are identified, and measures are taken to overcome them.

Barriers and Promoting Strategies to Sexual Health Assessment for Patients with Coronary Artery Diseases in Nursing Practice: A Literature Review

“…Moreover, nurses documented that sexual health assessment for patients is a part of their professional role [32]. Nurses have shown little competence in sexual health assessment and therefore requires more practice by nurse clinicians [33]. In short, patients' sexual health assessment is a nursing task but nurses still hesitate to conduct sexual health assessment in clinical practice [4].…”

“…Some nurses view assessment of patients' sexual health as at low priority [33] or make them upset, embarrassed or anxious [24]. Byrne and colleagues found that lack of enough time due to workload, feeling that patients are not ready to receive sexual information and lack of education and training are important barriers that nurses may encounter [48].…”

“…Hoekstra et al [5] reported that lack of health policies about addressing sexual health was the main barrier. Furthermore, Quinn and colleagues found that healthcare organization view sexual health assessment is not a priority [33]. In China, nurses reported that nurses' shortage and lack of resources are significant barriers to address patients' sexual health [55].…”

“…Despite that, several studies reported that addressing sexual health issues during undergraduate education is vital to increase nurses' knowledge [33] [58].…”

Sexuality: assessment, challenges and way forward in nursing profession

“…• Some nurses view assessment of patients' sexual health as at low priority (Quinn et al, 2011) or make them upset, embarrassed or anxious (Jaarsma et al, 2010). …”