Nurse s Perception of Barriers Toward Discussing Female Sexual Issues in Nursing Practice

Background: Nursing as a holistic practice, address all dimensions of human health and functioning including sexuality to identify any alterations of health.Aim: This study aims to assess nurse s perception of barriers toward discussing female sexual issues in nursing practice.Subjects and Methods: A descriptive exploratory research design was adopted for this study.Sample: A total of 200 convenience samples of nurses working in different setting at teaching hospital affiliated to Cairo University were participated in this study.Tool: Data was collected through six months during 2013 utilizing (I) interviewing questionnaire sheet was developed by the research investigator which includes three parts: A) Socio demographic profile of the subjects, B) Subject s previous education, experience and training related to sexuality, C) Nurse s knowledge regarding issues affecting female sexual function; (II) Scale for perceived barriers using Likert scale scoring ranged from 1-5.Result: Findings of this study revealed that barriers includes three parts: A) Nurses perceived barriers such as: Lack of knowledge (67%), feeling embarrassed (65.5%) lack of experience (64%) and afraid of violating woman privacy (59%); B) Women barriers as perceived by nurses such as: Woman concerned with other problems (58%), woman em-barrassed (57%) and woman feel that nurses are too young or not married to understand them (55.5%); and C) Work and community barriers: Lack of a private setting (68%), sexuality representing a low healthy priority (61%) and lack of a role model (58.%) were the common barriers as perceived by the study sampleConclusion: Finding of this study indicate that there are a numerous barriers which hinder nurses to discuss sexuality with woman.Recommendation: Sexual education in nursing curriculum, developing an evaluation tool to integrate sexuality history as a routine screening issue in clinical settings, as well as, increase the awareness of nurses about their role in sexuality care.