Sexual
Communication between Healthcare Professionals and their Clients/Patients
Most health care professionals receive little
training
in their professional programs to prepare them to help clients and
patients
deal with sexual issues. As a result,many are not comfortable
discussing
sexual issues with their clients/patients and have low self-efficacy
for
dealing with sexual issues (sexual intervention self-efficacy).The training and sexual
intervention self-efficacy
of physicians is particularly important because they are the
professionals that
people most frequently consult about their health concerns Yet, people
are
unlikely to raise sexual issues, concerns and questions if physicians
do not
signal that they are comfortable and willing to discuss sexual issues.
Therefore,
Stéphanie Boyer, Deanne Simms, Caroline Pukall, Stephan Holzapfel, Susan Chambers and I are
conducting a study investigating
physicians’ education, training, and self-efficacy for
dealing with their
patients’ sexual concerns and problems. This research builds
on earlier
research that I conducted with Andrea
Miller in which we examined clinical
psychologists’ self-efficacy related to intervening with
clients who have
sexual concerns and problems.
Midwives also can play an important role in their clients' sexual well-being. Therefore, Caroline Pukall,
Alyssa Byers-Heinlein, Ali McCallum and I are also conducting a study
investigating midwives education, training, and practice in dealing
with sexual concerns.
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