Educating to sexuality care: the nurse educator’s experience in a multicenter study

Abstract

Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org Educating to sexuality care: the nurse educator’s experience in a multicenter study Cinzia Gradellini 1,2, Daniela Mecugni 1, Elena Castagnaro 3, Fátima Frade 4,5,6, Maria da Luz Ferreira Barros 7,8, Sara Palma 9, María Jesús Bocos-Reglero 10* and Sagrario Gomez-Cantarino 10,11 1 Reggio Emilia Nursing Course, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, 2 Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Manno, Switzerland, 3 Azienda Unitaà Sanitaria Locale – IRCCS, Reggio Emilia, Italy, 4 Departamento de Enfermagem da Criança e do Jovem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal, 5 Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon (CIDNUR), Nursing School of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 6 Centre for Public Administration and Public Policies, Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 7 Department of Nursing, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal, 8 Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), Évora, Portugal, 9 School of Health, Polytechnic of Santarém, Santarém, Portugal, 10 Faculty of Physiotherapy and Nursing, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain, 11 Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC), Coimbra, Portugal Background: Sexuality is an issue inherent in the lives of all human beings. Education for Sexuality takes place informally, through relationships with the environment, with the family as a model, and formally, as a pedagogical practice in Teaching. Education for sexuality is recognized as an instrument of social transformation that leads to changes in behaviors and norms related to sexuality. Objectives: Knowing the perception of nursing professors about sexuality education in professional training, recognizing attitudes of these professors in relation to sexual education and identifying barriers in education for sexuality. Methods: Exploratory and descriptive study, using qualitative methodology. Data collection was carried out from semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Results: The interviewees consider sexuality education to be very important, being taught in the nursing course, addressing different themes. In general, they reported feeling comfortable teaching these topics. The identified barriers to the level of education students are in, students’ knowledge and reactions to the topic, religious and cultural issues, and the time available to talk about the topic and professional aspects. Conclusion: Sexuality is a fundamental theme in nursing education and needs to be further explored to overcome the barriers associated with its approach.