What keeps nurses from the sexual counseling of patients with heart failure?

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We sought to examine the current practice of discussing sexual health by heart failure (HF) nurses, and to explore which barriers prevent nurses from discussing sexuality. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMETHODS: The Nurses Survey of Sexual Counseling of Myocardial Infarction Patients and a list of barriers were used to form a questionnaire, which was sent to all HF clinics (n = 122) in the Netherlands. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanRESULTS: The majority (75%) of nurses (n = 146) felt a certain responsibility to discuss patients sexual health. However, in practice, 61% of the nurses rarely or never addressed sexuality. Barriers that prevented nurses from addressing sexuality and that differed between nurses who do (n = 58) and do not (n = 88) discuss sexuality include a lack of organizational policy (49% vs. 79%, respectively; P andlt; .001) and lack of training (43% vs. 80%, respectively; P andlt; .001), and not knowing how to initiate the subject (24% vs. 72%, respectively; P andlt; .001). Nurses preferred to address sexuality during a follow-up visit or when discussing medication. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanCONCLUSIONS: Although HF nurses feel responsible for discussing sexuality, this topic is rarely addressed in clinics. Several barriers were identified, relating to personal, patient, and organizational factors.<p>Funding Agencies|Netherlands Heart Foundation|081201/KI/RW/DM|</p

Addressing Sexuality as Standard Care in People with an Upper Limb Deficiency: Taboo or Necessary Topic?

“…This low number is in strong contrast with the fact that more than half of the professionals believed that addressing sexuality was a part of their professional responsibilities. Even though this study is, to our knowledge, the first to investigate the sexuality related communication of professionals working with patients with an ULD, other studies focusing on different chronic diseases and/or disabilities have found the same contrast [23][24][25]. This duality can be explained by several reasons.…”

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

“…Doherty and colleges stated that cardiac nurses ignore sexual health assessment because health institutions lack guidelines regarding sexual assessment and management, specialized referral clinics and nurses do not have enough confidence, knowledge and training [34]. 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].…”

“…Sexual dysfunction is a broad term that reflects any problem which interferes with persons' sexual desire [4]. Sexual dysfunction includes erectile dysfunction, loss of sexual desire, orgasmic difficulties, lack of interest in sex, and feeling afraid by patients or by the partner in having sex [5].…”

Sexual Counseling for Individuals With Cardiovascular Disease and Their Partners

“…Cultural and language barriers may also inhibit sensitive discussions. 15,17,22,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Although healthcare professionals indicate some knowledge about sexual activity in cardiac populations and are willing to engage in sexual counseling, 22 evidence suggests limited follow-through in providing such interventions to patients 40,41 because of lack of confidence and specialized training, 15,32,42 as well as perceived restrictions in the practice setting 43 and cultural background of the healthcare provider. 33 Specific areas of knowledge to be addressed in staff training are the role of intimacy without sex to gain confidence, positions for sexual activity, use of foreplay before sexual activity, and avoidance of unfamiliar partners and surroundings, 17,36,44 as well as knowledge regarding the use of medications to enhance sexual performance and whether or not these are safe for patients to use with specific types of CVD.…”