Aging & Sexual Health Lecture Reflection

What were the key takeaway points from the guest lecture today? 

• There is a myth that older adults are asexual. Although there is a gradual decline in activity, the majority of healthy people with intimate partners continue to remain sexual into their older years. Therefore, sex has a direct impact on our older patients and their health. 
• Sex is an occupation and is something we should take into consideration when treating older adults because it might be something that is important or meaningful to them. 
• Society pressures men which in turn directly impacts how they approach sex. Men then put a ton of pressure on themselves to be sexually competent. 
• A common problem for men is that they believe their sexual response should look and feel exactly like it did when they were younger and if it doesn't, they are not comfortable engaging in sexual activity. 
• The keys to intimacy in the later years for women is that the desire and sexual drive is a process, and for men, the sexual response changes with age. 
• Factors that impact sexuality for our older patients are the family of origin's influence, religion, and history of trauma. 
• The partner that has a low sexual desire is mislabeled as the "problem" and the partner that has a higher sexual desire is mislabeled as the "sex addict". "Sex addiction" is not recognized as a medical term and is not a diagnosis used by therapist, but rather "out of control sexual behavior" (OCSB). 
• Sexual health is not frivolous, but rather a quality of life issue. Although this topic might make us feel uncomfortable, this information is helpful to our patients and it is our job to become more comfortable addressing the topic since it is in our scope of practice. As future practitioners, being more comfortable addressing and discussing this topic with our patients will make them more comfortable asking for help to increase their quality of life. 

Describe two occupational therapy interventions based on the topic. Each intervention should address a different type of client: individual (1:1), group, or population.

• Individual: For an individual who has had a spinal cord injury, modifying the environment such as providing adaptive equipment such as a wedge is one type of intervention to address the individual's ADL of sexual health. 
• Group/Population: In a group setting, one OT intervention would be to use health promotion in an educational environment such as a support group, and providing sexual education facts, more specifically activity pacing, energy conservation, pain management, mobility and functional ambulation, task and work simplification, joint protection techniques, and range of motion.