47 The knowledge and attitudes of healthcare workers towards sexuality and sexual relationships in older persons

Abstract

Abstract Background Sexuality is one of the activities of living, and a person’s sexual desire and actions can continue into old age. Even though it is a basic need for a person, organisations can often ignore this activity. Staff in the healthcare sector showed a lack of knowledge and negative attitudes towards sexuality in older persons. Older persons usually keep silent about it due to embarrassment, lack of knowledge and lack of communication. The negative attitude and lack of knowledge regarding sexuality reflects that the staff require education and other interventions to improve their knowledge and attitude towards aged sexuality. The purpose of this literature review is to identify staff knowledge and attitudes towards sexuality in older persons. Methods A literature search was conducted in the CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, Science Direct and MEDLINE databases, published from 2007. The number of articles was reduced to 10,123 when the search topic included knowledge and attitudes of staff about sexuality and sexual relationships in older persons. After screening of period, age limited, English language, title and abstract, the result was reduced to 22. Results The literature review found very insufficient studies about staff knowledge and attitudes about sexuality in older persons within the last 11 years and could not find any studies conducted in Ireland. The review appears to demonstrate that the knowledge of staff regarding sexuality and sexual relationships in older persons are inadequate. Most of the studies showed that the staff attitude towards aged sexuality remains negative. Conclusion It is evident that staff’s positive attitude will resolve one of the leading barriers to expressing sexuality. The studies show that education and training programmes for staff, supported by policies and procedures, are the important interventions that are required. The findings of this review suggest that more research and interventions are needed for health workers towards sexual relations in older persons.