Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
J Clin Nurs. 2020 Nov;29(21-22):4239-4247. doi: 10.1111/jocn.15459. Epub 2020 Aug 26.
To assess the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare providers regarding sexual health care in cancer patients in Saudi Arabia and explore possible barriers influencing their attitudes.
A growing body of research emphasises the importance of healthcare providers addressing the sexual problems of cancer patients. The literature, however, shows that cancer treatment-related sexual problems are not frequently discussed by healthcare providers as expected. In Saudi Arabia, sexual health care in oncology daily practice has not been addressed sufficiently.
A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with a convenience sample of 150 healthcare providers from a university teaching and referral hospital providing cancer and palliative care in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia. The study methods were compliant with the STROBE checklist. Data were collected by Sexual Healthcare Attitudes and Knowledge survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics and Pearson's correlations were performed. A content analysis was used to enhance understanding and support study's findings.
Participants had a poor knowledge related to sexual health care in cancer patients, and the low mean attitudes score also represents negative attitudes and higher levels of barriers. Participants had insufficient knowledge about assessment and evaluation of sexual health in cancer patients, and did not know about sexual dysfunction resulting from cancer and its treatment. Knowledge and attitudes had a significantly positive correlation.
The study findings indicate there is room for improvement in the sexual health-related knowledge among oncology nurses, doctors and radiation oncologists. Helping healthcare providers overcome barriers to discussing cancer patients' sexual issues needs a careful evaluation of the knowledge, attitudes and barriers that keep them from discussing such issues.
It is imperative to improve healthcare providers' sexuality knowledge about cancer patients through introducing sexual health-based continuing education programmes, availability of resources (educational materials and clinical checklists) and training in oncology daily practice.
评估沙特阿拉伯医疗保健提供者在癌症患者的性保健方面的知识和态度，并探讨可能影响他们态度的障碍因素。
越来越多的研究强调医疗保健提供者解决癌症患者性问题的重要性。然而，文献表明，癌症治疗相关的性问题并没有像预期的那样经常被医疗保健提供者讨论。在沙特阿拉伯，肿瘤学日常实践中的性保健问题尚未得到充分解决。
采用便利抽样法，对沙特阿拉伯吉达市一家提供癌症和姑息治疗的大学教学和转诊医院的 150 名医疗保健提供者进行了横断面相关性研究。研究方法符合 STROBE 清单。数据由性保健态度和知识调查收集。进行描述性和推断性统计以及 Pearson 相关性分析。使用内容分析来增强理解并支持研究结果。
参与者在癌症患者的性保健知识方面较差，较低的平均态度得分也代表了消极的态度和更高水平的障碍。参与者对癌症患者性健康的评估和评估知之甚少，也不知道癌症及其治疗引起的性功能障碍。知识和态度呈显著正相关。
研究结果表明，肿瘤护士、医生和放射肿瘤学家在性健康相关知识方面仍有改进的空间。帮助医疗保健提供者克服讨论癌症患者性问题的障碍，需要仔细评估阻碍他们讨论此类问题的知识、态度和障碍。
通过引入基于性健康的继续教育计划、提供资源（教育材料和临床检查表）以及在肿瘤学日常实践中进行培训，提高医疗保健提供者对癌症患者的性知识至关重要。
