Abstract
BackgroundThe attitudes of care staff toward the sexuality of residents with dementia they care for is assumed to influence the residents’ expression of their sexuality in the way they want. This paper examines the effect of organizational factors, person-centered care, and the culture of the organization on the attitudes of care staff toward the sexuality of residents with dementia in residential care facilities (RCF) .MethodsCare staff in different functions at six RCF organizations (N = 187) participated. Using a survey, we gathered information on demographics and care-staff careers, attitudes toward resident sexuality, the culture of the organization, person-centered care, and knowledge of resident sexuality. Ordinary least square (OLS) hierarchical analyses were performed to analyze results.ResultsCare staff attitudes were found to be positively affected by person-centered care, and marginally positively affected by a supportive culture in the organization, Moreover, knowledge of resident sexuality positively affected care staff ‘attitudes toward resident sexuality, and the presence of policy regarding resident sexuality affected them negatively .ConclusionsDespite different study limitations, these results give a first insight in a broad perspective on care staff attitudes toward resident sexuality. In addition to improving knowledge of the care staff, enhancing person-centered care and a supportive culture in the organization will improve care-staff attitudes toward resident sexuality.
Highlights
The attitudes of care staff toward the sexuality of residents with dementia they care for is assumed to influence the residents’ expression of their sexuality in the way they want
The aim of this study is to examine in a broad perspective the attitudes of care staff toward the sexuality of residents with dementia, by examining the possible influence of organizational factors on care staff attitudes
Descriptive results Descriptive analyses (see Table 2 for means (M) and standard deviations (SD)) have demonstrated that differences in attitude toward resident sexuality were found between groups of employees based on levels of education F (3,178) = 11.36, p
Summary
The attitudes of care staff toward the sexuality of residents with dementia they care for is assumed to influence the residents’ expression of their sexuality in the way they want. Attitudes of the care staff might be a barrier to sexual expression of residents with dementia [6]. Older employees had more positive attitudes toward sexuality of residents with dementia than their younger colleagues [16] This difference was attributed to the smaller age gap between the residents and older caregivers. More knowledge of the (2019) 19:8 sexuality of residents with dementia was associated with a more positive attitude of caregivers [10]. Throughout the literature, the absence of training programs was highlighted [18], and the importance of improving attitudes and reducing stigma directly in training programs, rather than just providing more knowledge, was emphasized [10]
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