Talking about sexuality with consumers of mental health services.

PURPOSE

To explore nurses' perceptions of how consumers of mental health services have responded to mental health nurses discussing sexuality with them.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Qualitative exploratory design including in-depth individual interviews with 14 mental health nurses in Australia on two occasions. Nurse participants were taught the BETTER model in the first interview and were asked to use this in their practice.

FINDINGS

In the second interview nurse participants described the model as useful and consumer responses as very positive.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings suggest the BETTER model is a simple and effective intervention that can assist mental health nurses to include sexuality as part of nursing care.