Abstract
Sexual health and function frequently are overlooked by healthcare professionals despite being identified as an essential aspect of patient care. Patients with cancer have identified sexuality issues as being of equal importance to other quality-of-life issues. The aim of this study was to determine the views and attitudes of oncology nurses caring for cancer patients regarding sexual counseling. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the web site of the Turkish Oncology Nurses Association. With the participation of 87 nurses from oncology departments, the study determined that most nurses do not evaluate and counsel patients regarding their sexual problems and many difficulties prevent them from focussing on sexual health. The most important reasons for ignoring sexual counseling were the absence of routine regarding sexual counseling in oncology departments, the belief that the patient may become ashamed and the nurses' self-evaluation that they have insufficient skills and education to counsel in this subject. The most important variables in sexual evaluation and counseling are long years of service in the profession and a postgraduate degree.
Highlights
Turkey is a country where sexuality is not spoken about within the family, sexual education is not included in the curriculum of schools and sexual myths accepted as taboos by individuals are common
With the participation of 87 nurses from oncology departments, the study determined that most nurses do not evaluate and counsel patients regarding their sexual problems and many difficulties prevent them from focussing on sexual health
Due to the aforementioned reasons, patients abstain from accepting help regarding sexual problems that are caused by cancer and its treatment, or health experts serving in oncology departments accept these problems as caused by cancer treatment, believe problems concerning sexuality are natural, and refuse to talk about the effect of treatment on sexuality with their patients (Stilos et al, 2008; Blagbrough, 2010; Olsson et al, 2012)
Summary
Turkey is a country where sexuality is not spoken about within the family, sexual education is not included in the curriculum of schools and sexual myths accepted as taboos by individuals are common. Many studies determined that children and adolescences in schools wanted to receive education about sexuality; they are deprived of opportunities regarding sexual education or counseling. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the views and attitudes of oncology nurses caring for cancer patients regarding sexual counseling. With the participation of 87 nurses from oncology departments, the study determined that most nurses do not evaluate and counsel patients regarding their sexual problems and many difficulties prevent them from focussing on sexual health. The most important reasons for ignoring sexual counseling were the absence of routine regarding sexual counseling in oncology departments, the belief that the patient may become ashamed and the nurses’ self-evaluation that they have insufficient skills and education to counsel in this subject. Conclusions: The most important variables in sexual evaluation and counseling are long years of service in the profession and a postgraduate degree
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