Changes in sexuality and intimacy after cancer were examined using open-ended questionnaire responses with 156 informal carers who were partners of a person with cancer. Interviews were conducted with 20 participants to examine changes in depth. Seventy-six percent of partners of a person with "nonreproductive" cancer types and 84% of partners caring for a person with cancer involving "reproductive" sites reported an impact on their sexual relationship. Cessation or decreased frequency of sex and intimacy was reported by 59% of the women and 79% of the men. Renegotiation of sexuality and intimacy after cancer was reported by only 19% of the women and 14% of the men. Reasons for changes to sexuality after cancer were the impact of cancer treatments, exhaustion due to caring, and repositioning of the person with cancer as a patient, not a sexual partner. Changes to sexuality were associated with reports of self-blame, rejection, sadness, anger, and lack of sexual fulfillment. Positive consequences of changes included accepting the changed sexual relationship and having increased closeness and intimacy. These findings reinforce the need to acknowledge the sexual needs of partners as well as people with cancer, by healthcare professionals working in cancer and palliative care.

Changes in sexuality and intimacy after the diagnosis and treatment of cancer : the experience of partners in a sexual relationship with a person with cancer

This paper aims to describe research that examined the views of people with physical disability, living in Australia, of their sexual well‐being needs from their own perspective. We explored the impact their sexual well‐being needs had on their relationships with professional carers. A social model of disability was used to understand how sexual well‐being is facilitated or denied in community care. We also explored whether clients’ sexual well‐being needs could be met without carers or clients ‘crossing the line’. Our findings indicate the multiple ways that ‘professional boundaries’ were negotiated between clients and professional carers. The data show that the location of the ‘line’ changed, depending on a range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors. The data also show a gap between the sexual well‐being needs of people living with a physical disability and the level of support provided at the social and organisational levels. Suggestions are made for research and practice directions.

/pdf/my-home-your-workplace-people-with-physical-disability-3pdzcyxbry.pdf

My home, your workplace: people with physical disability negotiate their sexual health without crossing professional boundaries

Sexuality is a complex and fundamental aspect of a person’s health and mental well being, yet mental health professionals generally seem reluctant to discuss sexuality related issues and few research studies have specifically explored the sexuality of women with enduring mental illness. The aim of this qualitative research was to gain a deeper understanding about the sexuality experiences of this group of women. Eight women were interviewed individually, and then together as a focus group. Working from a feminist theoretical perspective, the interview transcripts were analysed thematically. All the women considered sexuality an essential component of their identity. However, powerful interlocking systems controlled and influenced how the women expressed their sexuality, often marginalizing, and positioning them as ‘Other’, and rendering their sexuality hidden and unseen. The experiences of this group of women highlight the need for mental health professionals to recognize sexuality as an important aspect of a person’s care and recovery, and to create a culture that is supportive of a person’s sexuality and sexual expression. Incorporating sexuality related issues into clinical practice offers mental health professionals a significant opportunity to make a positive difference.

"Out of sight": Sexuality and women with enduring mental illness

The field of sexuality research as it pertains to women with physical disabilities from different ethno-cultural communities is limited. This may be due to the lack of understanding among health care providers and researchers regarding the issues related to sexuality for women with disabilities. The impact of cultural beliefs and values related to sex and sexuality can further hinder women with disabilities from expressing themselves as 'sexual beings.' The purpose of this paper is: 1) identify issues and barriers experienced by women with disabilities from different ethno-cultural communities within an urban setting and 2) identify commonalities in experience of women with disabilities along the lines of cultural values about disability and gender.

Cross-Cultural Views of Disability and Sexuality: Experiences of a Group of Ethno-Racial Women with Physical Disabilities

Despite increasing rates of HIV infection among heterosexual women in Peru, married women remain virtually invisible as a group at risk of HIV or requiring treatment. This study analyzed the intersections of HIV with machismo and marianismo, the dominant discourses in Latin America that prescribe gender roles for men and women. Data sources include recent literature on machismo and marianismo and interviews conducted with 14 HIV‐positive women in Lima, Peru. Findings indicate how the stigma associated with HIV constructs a discourse that restricts the identities of HIV‐positive women to those of ‘fallen women’ whether or not they adhere to social codes that shape and inform their identities as faithful wives and devoted mothers. Lack of public discourse concerning HIV‐positive marianas silences women as wives and disenfranchises them as mothers, leaving them little room to negotiate identities that allow them to maintain their respected social positions. Efforts must be aimed at expanding the discourse of...

/pdf/after-the-fall-from-grace-negotiation-of-new-identities-41gi3k8tyl.pdf

After the fall from grace: negotiation of new identities among HIV‐positive women in Peru

By examining the relationship between the cultural construction of female sexuality and the lack of potential for many young heterosexual women to be truly sexually healthy this paper submits that messages for women within HIV prevention programmes can be confused, confining and at times dangerous to women's health and well-being. It is suggested that these messages also reinforce a traditional, biologically determined medical understanding of female sexuality that does not take note of social or culturally based research or commentary on female experience or female desire, but rather confines many women to sexual restrictions, doing little to empower women to prevent sexual risk-taking. The ideological basis of the discussion within this paper is informed by the awareness that applications and understandings of 'sexuality' are diverse and contested within sex research traditions and will influence the choice of research concerns. The 'deterministic' explanation of sexuality that 'sexuality' (the abstract noun referring to the quality of being 'sexual', Williams 1983) is your fate or destiny and that biology causes the patterns of sexual life, is abandoned in this paper in favour of a search for a definition of sexuality which brings together a host of different biological and mental possibilities which are given meaning only in social relations. This allows for a framework for the study of sexuality that relates it to other social phenomena, particularly economic, political and social structures (Foucault 1979); in other words, a study of the 'social construction' of sexuality. This paper suggests that health care professionals need to develop an awareness of the diversities within female sexuality and gain insight into their own values and assumptions about female sexuality if these are not to inhibit effective approaches and interventions in the areas of HIV and sexual health.

The politics of sex research and constructions of female sexuality: what relevance to sexual health work with young women?

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The politics of sex research and constructions of female sexuality: what relevance to sexual health work with young women?