Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Dec;14(6):858-866.
doi: 10.1007/s11764-020-00898-4. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Can the provision of sexual healthcare for oncology patients be improved? A literature review of educational interventions for healthcare professionals

L F Albers  1   2 , L A Grondhuis Palacios  3   4 , R C M Pelger  3   4 , H W Elzevier  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Can the provision of sexual healthcare for oncology patients be improved? A literature review of educational interventions for healthcare professionals

L F Albers et al. J Cancer Surviv. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: Sexual health is an important quality-of-life concern for cancer patients and survivors, but a difficult discussion topic for patients and healthcare professionals. The most important barriers causing healthcare professionals to avoid the topic are lack of education and lack of knowledge. How effective education about sexual health is for oncology healthcare professionals is not clear. The aim of this review is to examine the effectiveness of interventions in improving the provision of sexual healthcare for cancer patients.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using the following data sources: PubMed, PsychInfo, Embase and Emcare. Quantitative research was included which contained pre-intervention and post-intervention outcomes. The assessment of the studies was conducted independently by two reviewers. A third reviewer was involved if there was no consensus.

Results: Seven studies were included. In total, 572 oncology healthcare professionals participated, including physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. Interventions consisted of 6 face-to-face sessions and one online program. Primary objectives of the studies were the assessment of improvement in knowledge about sexual health, improvement of practice, frequency of discussing sexual health and comfort level and the decline of perceived barriers to discussing sexual health. Studies showed that interventions resulted in improved realization of the objectives.

Conclusions: Although improvement in the knowledge of healthcare professionals was achieved, it was not possible to give an overall recommendation for the development of interventions due to the limited number of studies and heterogeneity of the data.

Implications for cancer survivors: Sexual health is an important area of survivorship that is often neglected. Many oncology healthcare professionals lack training and knowledge to provide such care. More evidence-based practices are needed to improve sexual healthcare for cancer survivors.

Keywords: Education; Oncosexology; Quality of care; Quality of life; Sexual health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Acquati C, Zebrack BJ, Faul AC, Embry L, Aguilar C, Block R, Hayes-Lattin B, Freyer DR, Cole S. Sexual functioning among young adult cancer patients: a 2-year longitudinal study. Cancer. 2018;124(2):398–405. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31030. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aerts L, Christiaens MR, Enzlin P, Neven P, Amant F. Sexual functioning in women after mastectomy versus breast conserving therapy for early-stage breast cancer: a prospective controlled study. Breast. 2014;23(5):629–636. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2014.06.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Albaugh JA, Sufrin N, Lapin BR, Petkewicz J, Tenfelde S. Life after prostate cancer treatment: a mixed methods study of the experiences of men with sexual dysfunction and their partners. BMC Urol. 2017;17(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s12894-017-0231-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almont T, Bouhnik AD, Ben Charif A, Bendiane MK, Couteau C, Manceau C, Mancini J, Huyghe É. Sexual health problems and discussion in colorectal cancer patients two years after diagnosis: a national cross-sectional study. J Sex Med. 2019;16(1):96–110. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.11.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Almont T, Couteau C, Etienne H, Bondil P, Guimbaud R, Schover L, Huyghe É. Sexual health and needs for sexology care in digestive cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: a 4-month cross-sectional study in a French University hospital. Support Care Cancer. 2018;26:2889–2899. doi: 10.1007/s00520-018-4125-1. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms