Training in sexology for medical and paramedical professionals: a model for the rehabilitation setting

Abstract Rehabilitation sexology addresses the sexual difficulties of physically disabled people. Sexual dysfunction is prevalent among the patient population of rehabilitation clinics, which work with physical problems such as spinal cord injury, stroke and multiple sclerosis. However, the majority of rehabilitation professionals find sexuality and the sexual issues of their patients difficult to address. Two different surveys showed that 73% of patients, 59% of their partners and 67% of rehabilitation professionals considered sexuality an important topic to discuss. By contrast, only 12% of the professional staff considered themselves sufficiently trained to broach sexual problems with their patients. Motivated by these findings, we developed two different trainings for rehabilitation professionals. The first was discipline-specific, grouping individuals of the same discipline together, and the second was designed for the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team. The results of the training showed an increase in the health professionals' relevant knowledge, in their ability to recognise patients' sexual problems and in their skills in broaching and discussing sexual issues. These improvements had not diminished at the follow-up measurement. We consider this training method, developed for the rehabilitation setting, to be applicable in other settings, such as oncology and psychiatry. Keywords: femalemalemedical therapy Acknowledgements The training programmes were financially supported by grant 36300008 and grant 67 – 208 of ZonMw, the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development and by the National Rehabilitation Fund. Development of the discipline-specific training was made possible by rehabilitation centres De Hoogstraat in Utrecht and De Trappenberg in Huizen. Development of the team training was made possible by the Rutgers Nisso Groep, the Dutch expert centre on sexuality in Utrecht; the Sophia Rehabilitation Centre in Den Haag and the National Council for the Chronically Ill and Physically Disabled in Utrecht. The rehabilitation centre Groot Klimmendaal in Arnhem, team Ede provided the pilot team for the team training programme.