Abstract
Background: Sexual difficulties post gynaecological cancer treatment are commonplace and can impact multiple aspects of a woman’s life. Yet, health care practitioners remain reluctant to discuss sexuality from a holistic perspective with their patients.Aim: This article reviewed the literature on sexuality post gynaecological cancer treatment from the last 10 years. The aim was to understand research trends as well as identify gaps in the field.Methods: The review was framed using the neo-theoretical framework of sexuality. A comprehensive literature search, using the electronic databases EBSCOHost, Ovid, Clinical Key and PubMed, was conducted for articles concentrating on sexuality after gynaecological cancer treatment, published from 2007 to 2017 in English.Results: The results showed that the majority of the literature still approaches sexuality post treatment from a biomedical perspective with a focus on physical sexual functioning. However, there has been a slight shift towards understanding sexuality from a comprehensive standpoint, although there is a dearth of research relating to the psychological and relational aspects of sexuality.Conclusion: Comprehensive sexuality post treatment should be given further consideration in South Africa, and our unique socio-cultural context ought to be taken into consideration. Additionally, interventions at multiple levels should be explored, such as broadening sexual health training within the medical curriculum, considering the development of holistic cancer clinics and widening the scope of research relating to gynaecological cancer care.
Highlights
Sexual well-being is an important quality of life factor,[1] and women who have active and satisfying sexual relationships report higher levels of happiness and relationship fulfilment.[2]
Exclusion criteria consisted of literature reviews or articles from non-peer-reviewed journals, studies not published in English and research that did not focus on female sexuality post gynaecological cancer treatment
As this review has shown, recent literature is slowly beginning to approach sexuality post gynaecological cancer treatment from a holistic perspective
Summary
Sexual well-being is an important quality of life factor,[1] and women who have active and satisfying sexual relationships report higher levels of happiness and relationship fulfilment.[2]. This article aims to review the literature on women’s sexuality post gynaecological cancer treatment in order to understand it from a holistic perspective. It outlines issues requiring further research and provides critical commentary. Improved understandings and conceptualisations of women’s experiences of sexuality post treatment are imperative to improving patient-centred care and developing support programmes in South Africa. Health care practitioners remain reluctant to discuss sexuality from a holistic perspective with their patients
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