Schouten Vanessa, Henrickson Mark, Cook Catherine M, McDonald Sandra, Atefi Nilo
School of Humanities, Media and Communication, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
School of Social Work, Massey University-Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand.
J Med Ethics. 2021 Jun 23. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2020-107171.
To investigate attitudes of staff, residents and family members in long-term care towards sex and intimacy among older adults, specifically the extent to which they conceptualise sex and intimacy as a need, a right, a privilege or as a component of overall well-being.
The present study was a part of a two-arm mixed-methods cross-sectional study using a concurrent triangulation design. A validated survey tool was developed; 433 staff surveys were collected from 35 facilities across the country. Interviews were conducted with 75 staff, residents and family members.
It was common for staff, residents and family members to talk about intimacy and sexuality in terms of rights and needs. As well as using the language of needs and rights, it was common for participants to use terms related to well-being, such as fun, happiness or being miserable. One participant in particular (a staff member) described receiving intimate touch as a 'kind of care'-a particularly useful way of framing the conversation.
While staff, residents and family frequently used the familiar language of needs and rights to discuss access to intimate touch, they also used the language of well-being and care. Reframing the conversation in this way serves a useful purpose: it shifts the focus from simply meeting minimum obligations to a salutogenic approach-one that focuses on caring for the whole person in order to improve overall well-being and quality of life.
调查长期护理机构中的工作人员、居民和家庭成员对老年人性与亲密关系的态度，特别是他们将性与亲密关系视为一种需求、一项权利、一种特权还是整体幸福感的一个组成部分的程度。
本研究是一项采用并行三角测量设计的双臂混合方法横断面研究的一部分。开发了一种经过验证的调查工具；从全国35个机构收集了433份工作人员调查问卷。对75名工作人员、居民和家庭成员进行了访谈。
工作人员、居民和家庭成员从权利和需求的角度谈论亲密关系和性是很常见的。除了使用需求和权利的语言外，参与者使用与幸福感相关的术语也很常见，如乐趣、幸福或痛苦。特别是一名参与者（一名工作人员）将接受亲密接触描述为一种“关怀”——这是构建对话的一种特别有用的方式。
虽然工作人员、居民和家庭成员经常使用需求和权利这种常见的语言来讨论获得亲密接触的问题，但他们也使用了幸福感和关怀的语言。以这种方式重新构建对话有一个有益的目的：它将焦点从仅仅履行最低义务转移到一种健康生成方法——一种关注照顾整个人以提高整体幸福感和生活质量的方法。
