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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This study aims to explore and compare the reaction of long-term care staff towards situations of sexual intercourse in which one or both partners have dementia.
Participants were 538 staff members at 28 Portuguese long-term care facilities. Data
were collected using a printed questionnaire with seven vignettes with situations related to the sexuality of LTCF residents. In this study, three of these vignettes were
analysed with situations in which residents were having relationships in their bedrooms: (1) one male resident and one female resident; (2) two residents with dementia;
(3) two residents, one of them with dementia. For each of the vignettes, participants
are asked what they think their ‘colleagues’ would do in each vignette, i.e. ‘What do
you think most of your colleagues would do?’ The results revealed that when sexual
relationships involved both partners living with dementia, the most selected reaction
was ‘Comment on what happened with supervision or direction’, which may suggest
that the situation was perceived as difficult or problematic. The most restrictive reactions were most often chosen when only one partner had dementia. This study
suggests the need to improve and provide training, so that staff have knowledge and
strategies that allow people living with dementia to preserve their sexual rights in
long-term care facilities.
Description
Keywords
Dementia Long-term care Sexuality Staff's attitudes
Citation
Fonseca, M. I., Almeida, D., Martins, A. P., Cerqueira, M., Villar, F., Martinez de Oliveira, J. M., Afonso, R. M. (2022). Sexual expression involving people with dementia living in long-term care facilities: staff's reactions. International Journal of Older People Nursing, 00, e12474. https://doi.org/10.1111/opn.12474