Abstract
Sexuality is considered an important aspect of holistic care, but research has shown that it is often not considered, as it should be, in health services. Addressing clients’ sexuality requires a multidisciplinary approach and is not the responsibility of a single professional. The literature underlines that university students or those working in hospitals and other health care facilities are not adequately prepared to meet patients’ needs regarding sexuality. The objective of this study was, therefore, to review the scientific literature addressing training courses for health professionals in sexuality between 2000 and 2020. Several studies have shown enhancement in health care professionals’ ability to deal with patients’ sexuality issues after participating in sexuality education programs, regardless of the course load and modality, even if the long-term effects have still to be proved. Health care professionals therefore require education in the area of sexuality, regardless of their discipline. According to the articles reviewed, in order to improve the performance and comfort level of health care professionals to deal with patients’ sexuality, investments in training are necessary. Further evaluations of interdisciplinary sexuality education programmes should use larger samples and explore the differences across disciplines.
Highlights
Sexuality is considered an important aspect of holistic care, but research has shown that it is often not considered, as it should be, in health services
The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles on training, and education regarding sexuality; (2) original articles written in English; (3) articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2020; (4) articles reporting empirical results on the intervention; (5) articles involving HCPs or students in degree courses for HCPs
All studies analyzed showed that training is crucial for efficient and effective communication on sexuality
Summary
Sexuality is considered an important aspect of holistic care, but research has shown that it is often not considered, as it should be, in health services. Most health professionals (HCP) do not proactively discuss sexuality issues with service users—recent research in the UK [4] has shown that 60% of HCP agreed that sexual issues should be addressed, only 6% started frequent discussions with patients themselves due to personal blockages, like lack of training (79%), lack of time (67%), and embarrassment (50%). It is, important to develop potential strategies to overcome these barriers, such as training, policy development, availability of written information for service users, and communication between
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