A Review of Sexuality and the Chronically Ill Older Adult: A Social Justice Issue

Sexual health is defined by the World Health Organisation as “a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality in a way that enriches and enhance the life of the person” (World Health Organisation, 2006).

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) are one of the most common and preventable health care problems in the world. The ageism of the population and the increase in the number of older adults, along with healthcare advances that provide better and longer quality of life, has encourage changes in sexuality amongst older adults. This increase has prompted healthcare workers to familiarize themselves with the sexuality of older adults. In this report, I plan to discuss the significance of this topic, the concern for the public, and interventions that can be implemented from a Community Health Nurse prospective.

Over the last fifty years there have been many changes to the sexual attitudes and behaviors in the United States. Going back through the early 1900’s misinformation was abundant when it came to the sexuality of the baby boomers and other older adults. Often when thoughts come to mind it is humorous to the younger generation when the notion of aging individuals engaging or enjoying sex. It is brought up in conversation disdainfully in media.

This paper will outline sexuality at different life stages, and as a sexual therapist I will coach an adolescent girl with a boyfriend who is pressuring her to have sex; an elderly couple with a wife exhibiting a renewed interest in sexual activity and a unwilling husband; and finally a handicapped male that has been paralyzed since he was four years old.

Television and film do a wonderful job of widowing parents or creating a life so intertwined with their children that is their identity. When we do witness the actions around sexuality and the aging it is almost never serious, often leaving one to think that that the elderly engaging in any sexual contact will prove perverted, dangerous or lethal (Dan Sewell). Much like advertisements for products incite us to buy them, the views of sexuality and senior citizens we see in the media carries into real life, leaving the elderly to be labeled as either asexual or are met with phrases like "dirty old man" or cougar, simply for having a desire that exists within all of us. Being of the community and seeing these perceptions does not make it easy to be open about feelings regarding the topic on any level, exacerbating any existing esteem issues that could be onset of aging (Melanie

The sexuality and reproductive assessment helps describes sexual fulfillment, sexual perception, and sexual self –concepts. (Edelman & Mandel, 2011). This assessment is focused on the satisfaction of one’s sexual life, and the changes that take place throughout a lifespan. Another pattern is the coping-stress tolerance pattern. This focuses on the family’s adaption to internal and external pressures related to their health, environment, and social status and how they cope with these pressures in their day to day lives. Finally, the last pattern is the values and belief pattern. Values and beliefs vary in different cultures. Therefore, the focus of this pattern is one’s attitude regarding the meaning of life, spirituality, and how these attitudes affect the family related health problems. (Edelman & Mandle, 2011).

The guidelines provides clear suggestions of what it means to discriminate against a client due to sexual orientation. The guidelines has 4 main focus and it explains in details what psychologists need to

For the elderly, it becomes a concern as it does with losing any other motor function. Society has become increasingly more aware that the elderly is just as concerned with their sexual performance as the younger generation. Subramanyam & Pinto (2011), address that most elderly have difficultly verbalizing their sexuality because of shame. Shame formulates from what we believe is acceptable and unacceptable in society and how we will be perceived.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of sexuality in the context of heterosexism and other related terms in the clinical setting using Horkheimer's Critical Social Theory (1972) in the patient-illness experience to socially critique social oppression experienced by LGBT patients and implement inclusive, patient-centered care. The concept of sexuality is defined along with related terms relevant to this topic to distinguish and understand the relationship between each other. Using Horkheimer's Critical Social Theory as a framework to implement nursing care by challenging and critiquing the rigid, traditional concept of heterosexism and how that oppresses LGBT patients which can lead to negative health outcomes. According to Morrison

At no time should you feel unable to maintain your own well-being due to judgement from medical providers. Today’s medical school graduates have had more training on sexual health than their more established counterparts, but it is still possible to encounter a doctor who lacks a thorough approach to patient sexual health.

Dr. Charles Moser, in Health Care Without Shame, strives to assist health care professionals and sexually diverse individuals in understanding the dilemma of providing the best and most appropriate health care for those who identify themselves as part of the sexual minority or who engage in non-traditional sexual behaviors. Moser is board-certified as a sexologist and in internal medicine; however he has dedicated his career to the study of sexuality. Throughout the book, Moser describes his own experiences in medical school and the lack of information available to prepare health care professionals for a segment of the population, which deserves the same medical care and attention as all other populations. Moser cites the lack of training and the fact that when a topic was addressed it was merely glossed over since most professors were not comfortable with the topic of sexuality. He elaborates on one incident in medical school stating, “We never got an answer. And that was the sum total of my medical school education on sexuality.” (Moser, 1999). Therefore, one of the two goals in Moser’s book is to educate medical professionals so that they can give sexual minorities the same effective health care as is available to other populations. Moser’s second goal is to encourage those in the sexual minority groups to be more open to health care professionals so that they can identify those who are competent and nonjudgmental.

Sexuality and older people This paper will examine the mediums portrayal of sexuality and elderly. Further, the paper will discuss on the issues surrounding sexuality and the older adults and later it will provide a number of examples of social aspects conveyed by aspects of sexual development. Sexuality applies to everyone despite of the age. Therefore, assuming the person the first option, sexuality has a number of aspects and shows diverse meaning to different people.

The opportunities to assess sexual health begin with the health care provider perception on sexual behavior. It is important for the clinician and the patient to be educated on sexual health, and the health care giver to be trained on how to conduct sexual health assessment versus focused assessment on sexual problems. The clinician assessment focus is to promote safe and healthy behaviors regardless of the patient’s sexual preferences, increasing the patient’s understanding on how to prevent sexual diseases. Such assessment needs to be approached in a sensitive, understanding, supportive, compassionate and non judgmental way. This kind of approach can improve communication between the healthcare provider and the patient to view sexual health

A potential cause for Susie’s loss of sexual desire could be related to the psychological changes that have occurred over the past two years of her life. Based on the case study, it is clear that there is a high level of stress in Susie’s life as she is faced with financial concerns from her husband’s job changes and personal concerns from about

The topic we are investigating is sexuality throughout lifespan. There are many bodily, mentally and social changes and development humans go through as it pertains to their sexuality. As research progresses our main goal for our booth is to inform our peers about the developmental changes physically and socially throughout adulthood. However, another goal is to educate people on the sexual developmental processes that occurs from being as young as an infant to the elderly.