Need or right: Sexual expression and intimacy in aged care

Abstract

This paper explores how the residential aged care sector could engage with residents' sexual expression and intimacy. It is informed by a study of 19 aged care staff members and 23 community members, and initially designed on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry methodology. The data were collected through focus groups and interviews and analyzed using discourse analysis. We found that staff members mainly conceptualize sexual expression as a need to be met, while community members (current and prospective residents) understand it as a right to be exercised. We conclude that the way in which sexual expression is conceptualized has critical implications for the sector's engagement with this topic. A ‘needs’ discourse informs policies, procedures and practices that enable staff to meet residents' needs, while a ‘rights’ discourse shapes policies, practices and physical designs that improve residents' privacy and autonomy, shifting the balance of power towards them. The former approach fits with a nursing home medical model of care, and the latter with a social model of service provision and consumption.