‘I do it my way’: long-term care staff’s perceptions of residents’ sexual needs and suggestions for improvement in their management

Feliciano Villar (), Rodrigo Serrat, Montserrat Celdrán, Josep Fabà, Teresa Martínez and Jos Twisk
Additional contact information
Feliciano Villar: Universitat de Barcelona
Rodrigo Serrat: Universitat de Barcelona
Montserrat Celdrán: Universitat de Barcelona
Josep Fabà: Universitat de Barcelona
Teresa Martínez: Social Services and Rights Department of the Principado de Asturias
Jos Twisk: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

European Journal of Ageing, 2020, vol. 17, issue 2, No 7, 197-205

Abstract: Abstract This study is aimed at exploring to what extent staff perceive older residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) as still having sexual needs, and how they think care in relation to sexual issues could be improved. The sample was self-selected and comprised 2115 staff members (including managers, technical and care assistants) employed at 152 Spanish LTCFs. Data were collected in the second half of 2016. Participants were asked to estimate the proportion of older residents who had sexual needs in their institution and, by means of open-ended questions, they were also asked about how they satisfied such needs and how to improve care in relation to sexual issues. Responses to the open-ended questions were analysed using content analysis. Differences were assessed according to participants’ work position. Results showed that most participants did not see sexual needs as being present in many (or even any) older people living in LTCFs. Masturbation was the most common way staff thought residents’ sexual needs were being satisfied. The participants mentioned a broad range of measures to improve care regarding sexual issues, including providing more training opportunities for staff, guaranteeing privacy and improving negative attitudes held by family, residents or staff members. Work position influenced participants’ responses: managers and technical staff were more likely to recognise sexual needs among residents, perceived a greater need for training, and proposed more ambitious and far-reaching improvements than care assistants.

Keywords: Sexuality; Long-term care; Nursing homes; Person-centred care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-019-00546-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:17:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10433-019-00546-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... iences/journal/10433

DOI: 10.1007/s10433-019-00546-6

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Ageing is currently edited by Marja Aartsen, Susanne Iwarsson and Prof. Dr. Matthias Kliegel

More articles in European Journal of Ageing from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().