Healthcare professionals do not discuss sexual functioning with women who have ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer affects sexual functioning, but health professionals' knowledge about this is inadequate, as is their communication with patients about sexual issues. Stead and colleagues (p 836) interviewed 15 women with ovarian cancer who were sexually active or were sexually inactive for reasons related to the condition. None had received written information on sexual issues, and only two had had brief oral communication, even though most women thought that a healthcare professional should have provided written information or discussed sexual issues with them. All but one of 43 health professionals interviewed thought that medical staff should discuss pyschosexual issues, but only four clinicians (25%) and five nurses (19%) did so.

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Relevant Article

Communication about sexual problems and sexual concerns in ovarian cancer: qualitative study

Maxine L Stead, Lesley Fallowfield, Julia M Brown, and Peter Selby
BMJ 2001 323: 836-837. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]