Healthcare Professional Communication on Sexual Health: A Report from the Italian Working Group on Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer.
Oncologist
; 28(10): e884-e890, 2023 10 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37348061
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Sexual function is an important concern for adolescent and young adult (AYA) with cancer. The aim of this study was to explore the attitude of Italian health care professionals who deal with AYA patients with cancer toward sexual health communication. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
A 11-question survey was developed by the AIOM (Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica) and AIEOP (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica) AYA workgroup and sent to AIOM and AIEOP members.RESULTS:
The sample comprised 360 respondents, 54.2% AIEOP and 45.8% AIOM members. Eighty percent were physicians, 14.5% nurses, 4.7% psychologists, and 0.8% other professionals. Medical oncologists are more used to investigate about AYA sexual health than pediatric oncologists (58.2% vs. 46.2%), even if pediatrics more frequently refer patients to specific and shared protocol (40% vs. 26.1%). Both AIOM and AIEOP participants mostly talk about sexual health only on request or occasionally (78.8% and 79%, respectively). Clinician-reported barriers to communication identified in this study are lack of preparation and embarrassment for both the categories, plus the presence/interference of parents for pediatrics and lack of time for medical oncologists. Overall, less than 5% of clinicians in our survey received specific training on potential sexual health issues in AYA patients with cancer and only 2% felt adequately prepared to speak about it.CONCLUSION:
Sexual health is a key component of comprehensive care for AYA with cancer during treatments. This study highlighted the need of Italian providers for specific training and guidelines on sex-related health issues encountered by AYA patients.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Saúde Sexual
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Oncologist
Assunto da revista:
NEOPLASIAS
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália