O'Sullivan Lucia F, Majerovich Jo Ann, Wuest Judith
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Department of Indigenous Services Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
SAGE Open Nurs. 2019 May 3;5:2377960819832676. doi: 10.1177/2377960819832676. eCollection 2019 Jan-Dec.
A body of work emerging in the last few years has expanded the focus of youth sexual health to include problems in sexual functioning. Recent surveys show that rates of youth sexual functioning problems are similar to those of adults. Physicians' lack of awareness about problems of sexual functioning has been identified as a major obstacle in treatment. Yet little is known about health-care provider (HCP) perspectives on youth sexual functioning. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study with HCPs to learn about their perceptions of adolescent sexual problems and HCP roles in managing these issues including sexual functioning. Nineteen HCPs: Family physicians, nurse practitioners, and public health nurses working primarily with youth in universities, schools, or sexual health clinics were recruited to draw on their expert knowledge and experience. All completed in-depth individual interviews. Data were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis. Our findings illuminate inconsistent views. Some HCPs, particularly those in youth-focused services, adopt a holistic role in promoting healthy sexual functioning, and others, commonly those in general practice, attend only to biomedical issues related to sexual dysfunction. All HCPs in our study were challenged by a paucity of sexual health preparation in their formal education. HCP interest in youth sexual health affected their efforts to acquire new information and training and, along with the structure of their practice setting, influenced whether they framed their role in youth sexual health holistically within a context of social determination or constrained their role to a medical model. These findings draw attention to the need for new approaches for strengthening knowledge, training, and resources to foster HCP promotion of healthy sexual functioning and prevention of lifelong sexual health problems.
过去几年涌现的一系列研究成果将青少年性健康的关注重点扩大到了性功能问题。近期调查显示，青少年性功能问题的发生率与成年人相似。医生对性功能问题缺乏认识已被视为治疗中的一大障碍。然而，对于医疗保健提供者（HCP）对青少年性功能的看法却知之甚少。我们对医疗保健提供者进行了一项描述性定性研究，以了解他们对青少年性问题的看法以及医疗保健提供者在处理这些问题（包括性功能）中所扮演的角色。我们招募了19名医疗保健提供者：主要在大学、学校或性健康诊所为青少年提供服务的家庭医生、执业护士和公共卫生护士，以借鉴他们的专业知识和经验。所有人都完成了深入的个人访谈。数据采用定向定性内容分析法进行分析。我们的研究结果揭示了一些不一致的观点。一些医疗保健提供者，特别是那些专注于青少年服务的人员，在促进健康性功能方面发挥着全面的作用，而其他人员，通常是普通执业医生，只关注与性功能障碍相关的生物医学问题。我们研究中的所有医疗保健提供者都面临着正规教育中性健康培训不足的挑战。医疗保健提供者对青少年性健康的兴趣影响了他们获取新信息和培训的努力，并且与他们的执业环境结构一起，影响了他们是在社会决定的背景下全面界定自己在青少年性健康方面的角色，还是将自己的角色局限于医学模式。这些研究结果提醒人们，需要采用新方法来加强知识、培训和资源，以促进医疗保健提供者推动健康性功能并预防终身性健康问题。
