HEALTH CARE EDUCATORS’ KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES REGARDING SEXUALITY IN THE AGED

Health care providers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward sexuality in older adults may have an impact on the overall quality of care they provide to older clients. One place to begin improving the knowledge and attitudes of health care professionals may be health care educators. If educators have accurate knowledge and positive attitudes, they can help their students acquire accurate knowledge and develop positive attitudes. Forty‐two health care educators in a large community college completed a sexuality knowledge and attitude scale. The study attempted to determine the extent of the educators’ knowledge of sexuality in the aged, their attitudes toward it, the relationship between sexual knowledge and attitudes, and the relationship of knowledge and attitudes to certain personal / demographic variables and professional / experiential factors. The results indicated that the health care educators had limited knowledge regarding aged sexuality but held positive attitudes toward it. No significant relationship was found between knowledge and attitudes. Older health care educators and educators who had participated in continuing education related to sexuality possessed more knowledge about aged sexuality. Educators who rated themselves as more religious held more restrictive attitudes.     

The life satisfaction among older East Asian immigrants: sexual attitudes and knowledge

ABSTRACT

Sexuality in later life is an essential factor for quality of life among older adults However, little is known about the sexuality of older adult immigrants from East Asia who have experienced both Western and Eastern cultures. In addition, we have limited information about the mechanism of how sexual attitudes impact life satisfaction through knowledge of sexuality. To address these knowledge gaps, a cross-sectional research design was conducted by collecting data from older East Asian immigrants aged 60 or over in a large city in a Midwestern state. We analyzed 96 responses using exploratory factor analysis and mediation analysis. The results showed that older adult immigrants who had more open sexual attitudes were likely to possess accurate sexual knowledge. Older adult immigrants’ sexual knowledge mediated the relationship between their sexual attitudes and life satisfaction. The findings highlight the importance of lifelong sexual education for older adult immigrants and recommend social workers train in culturally sensitive approaches.     

The counsellor and changing Canadian sexual mores

To date, the counsellor in North America has been inadequately trained, and consequently ineffective in dealing with client problems involving human sexuality. The purpose of this paper is to help the counsellor increase his awareness and understanding of the sexual attitudes and behaviour of the clients with whom he interacts in the therapeutic setting. This task is undertaken by examining the empirical findings from some current Canadian sex research to determine some of the dominant changes in attitudes that have occurred within the past decade. The findings from this research have indicated that there has been a major change in the personal outlook of Canadian youth, as well as the viewpoint of the public at large, leading to a more general acceptance of a permissive sexual ethic. There are also signs that public attitudes toward prevalent social codes of sexual behaviour are being reappraised and redefined. The implications of these changes in Canadian sexual mores as a significant factor in the counselling process are discussed.     

Cognitive distortions and blame attribution in sex offenders against adults and children

OBJECTIVE: Sexual offenders tend to hold attitudes and beliefs which minimize and justify their offending behavior. It was hypothesized that distorted thinking supporting sexual offending and blame attribution would differ depending on the offence characteristics of different groups of sexual offenders. METHOD: Two groups of sexual offenders separated on the basis of the age of their victims (sex offenders against children, 36; sex offenders against adults, 30) were compared on measures of cognitive distortions relating to sex with children and rape and a measure of blame attribution which assesses external, mental element, and guilt feeling attributions. RESULTS: Child sexual offenders endorsed more cognitive distortions relating to sex with children, but there were no group differences in cognitive distortions relating to rape. Those who offended against adults reported more external attributions and child offenders reported more guilt feeling attributions. Mental element attribution related to alcohol intoxication and use of violence in the offence, but was not related to group differences. CONCLUSIONS: Results are interpreted as suggesting that child sex offenders support their offending by more enduring distorted cognitions, while those who offend against adults use blame attributions associated with the particular offence.     

A sex education programme for mothers in Iran: Does preschool children’s sex education influence mothers’ knowledge and attitudes?

Mothers have an important role to play in teaching their children about sexual issues and shaping children’s sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. In many cases, however, mothers themselves need help and support. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a sex education programme on the knowledge and attitudes of the mothers of pre-school children. Eighty mothers of pre-school children were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received an education and training programme delivered over two 2-h sessions. The control group received no such intervention. Researcher-constructed knowledge and attitude questionnaires were completed by both groups before and one month after the intervention. Findings showed no significant differences between the two groups in terms of knowledge and attitudes before the training. After the education and training intervention, however, there was a significant increase in the mean score for both knowledge and attitudes in the experimental group compared to the control group. Study findings suggest that the sex education programme for the mothers of pre-school children can improve their knowledge and attitudes.     

What Tanzanian parents want (and do not want) covered in school-based sex and relationships education

Despite evidence that demonstrates the benefits of school-based sex and relationships education (SRE) in promoting and protecting young people's sexual health, there are still controversies regarding what should be covered in the SRE curriculum among different stakeholders, including parents. This study assessed Tanzanian parents' attitudes towards the provision of SRE in schools in order to ascertain their level of support and what they wanted covered in school-based SRE. Two hundred and eighty-seven parents, recruited from one urban district and one rural district, completed a questionnaire assessing their attitudes towards school-based SRE. Results show that, in both districts, more than 75% supported the provision of SRE in schools as well as the inclusion of a wide range of topics in school-based SRE curriculum. However, the results also show that parents do not equally welcome the inclusion of some topics – especially those in the domain of attitudes and values, such as homosexuality and masturbation. The study concludes that, although parents may object to the inclusion of some topics, they generally support the provision of SRE in schools. It is hoped that the results of this study will help to overcome some of the resistance to a more widespread introduction of SRE in Tanzanian schools that rests on fears of parental reaction.     

Attitudes towards sexuality information for adolescents: what parents should and should not say

The goal of this study was to investigate the attitudes of Colombians with respect to what can and what must not be said to young people of different ages and genders regarding sexuality. A convenience sample of 329 adults, aged 18–64 years, living in Bogotá participated in the study. They were presented with a set of 36 vignettes describing situations in which either a young girl or a young boy seemed to be concerned about sexuality and sexual relationships. Each scenario contained three items of information: the child’s gender, age and the parent’s decision (e.g. not to say anything regarding sexuality). Through cluster analysis, seven qualitatively different sets of attitudes were found. The five most common ones were: (i) it is never appropriate to talk about sexual matters (6%); (ii) delegate this responsibility to the school nurse (4%); (iii) provide incomplete information restricted to the biology of sexuality (11%); (iv) provide comprehensive information but with a recommendation of abstinence (28%); and (v) provide comprehensive information and a recommendation of pre-marital sexual experience (36%). Although it was expected that attitudes would vary as a function of the young person’s gender and age, such variations proved to be limited in their extent.     

Risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse: a review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: Since the late 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical focus on psychological and social influences of perpetration of child sexual abuse. This paper presents the results of a review and meta-analysis of studies examining risk factors for perpetration of child sexual abuse published since 1990. METHOD: Eighty-nine studies published between 1990 and April of 2003 were reviewed. Risk factors were classified into one of the following six broad categories: family factors, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social deficits, sexual problems, and attitudes/beliefs. Sex offenders against children (SOC) were compared to three comparison groups identified within the 89 studies: sex offenders who perpetrated against adults (SOA), non-sex offenders, and non-offenders with no history of criminal or sexual behavior problems. RESULTS: Results for the six major categories showed that SOC were not different from SOA (all d between -.02 and .14) other than showing lower externalizing behaviors (d=-.25). Sex offenders against children were somewhat different from non-sex offenders, especially with regard to sexual problems and attitudes (d=.83 and .51). Sex offenders against children showed substantial differences from non-offenders with medium sized effects in all six major categories (d's range from .39 to .58). CONCLUSION: Child sex offenders are different from non-sex offenders and non-offenders but not from sex offenders against adults. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study suggests that the presence of general risk factors may lead to a variety of negative behavioral outcomes, including the perpetration of child sexual offending. Family factors were strongly related to the perpetration of child sex offending (vs. non-sexual offending or non-offending) and may be valuable intervention points for interrupting the development of child sex offending, as well as other negative behaviors. Other potential points for intervention may focus on the development of appropriate social and emotional skills that contribute to sexual offending.     

Caregiver parenting and gender attitudes: Associations with violence against adolescent girls in South Kivu,Democratic Republic of Congo

Violence against adolescent girls occurs at alarmingly high rates in conflict-affected settings, in part due to their increased vulnerability from their age and gender. However, humanitarian programming efforts have historically focused either on child abuse prevention or intimate partner violence prevention and have not fully addressed the specific needs of adolescent girls, including engagement of caregivers to reduce risk of violence against adolescent girls. Thus, the objectives of this analysis are to examine the whether gendered and parental attitudes of caregivers in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were associated with their adolescent girls’ experiences of violence and girls’ attitudes towards IPV. Cross-sectional data from 869 girls (10–14 years) and their caregivers (n = 764) were drawn from a baseline assessment of a violence prevention evaluation conducted in 2015. Findings suggest that female caregiver’s gender equitable attitudes for adults may be associated with reduced odds of sexual abuse and less acceptance of IPV for adolescent girl children. Parenting attitudes and beliefs and gender equity for girl children were not associated with violence risk for girls, while increased accepting attitudes of negative discipline were only associated with lowered odds of sexual abuse. Understanding of caregivers’ attitudes may provide potential insight into how to more effectively engage and develop programming for caregivers to promote the safety and well-being of adolescent girls.     

Assessing changes in medical student attitudes toward non-traditional human sexual behaviors using a confidential audience response system

Medical students encountering patients with unfamiliar, unconventional sexual practices may have attitudes that can affect open communication during sexual history-taking. We measured changes in first-year US medical student attitudes toward 22 non-traditional sexual behaviors before and after exposure to human sexuality instruction. An electronic, hand-held audience response system was used in a lecture hall to sample anonymous student attitudes toward this sensitive topic. Several attitudes were influenced by instruction, as shown by statistical comparisons before and after instruction. Students' attitudes shifted toward patterns favoring treatment for five out of 10 paraphilias that are not harmful of others. Most students favored imprisonment for pederasty before instruction, consistent with lessons about mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, and this attitude increased non-significantly after instruction. Student attitudes were generally accepting of homosexuality, but were more accepting of female than male homosexuality, both before and after instruction. Implications of these diverse effects of our lecture-based curriculum on attitudes toward non-traditional human sexual behavior are discussed, as well as benefits of audience response systems in anonymously assessing students' attitudes toward sensitive topics.     

Integrating Identities: Facilitating a Support Group for LGBTQ Students on a Christian College Campus

College can be a challenging time for young adults, as many are experiencing life on their own for the first time, adjusting to new lifestyles, new social groups, and new ways to express themselves. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) college students, the challenges are increased as they face harassment, discrimination, and struggles with identity. For LGBTQ students on a Christian campus, the integration of spiritual and sexual/gender identities can pose even more challenges. Research has shown that LGBTQ individuals are at a higher risk for mental health issues, as are those who fail to integrate spiritual and sexual/gender identities. This article will use a review of the current literature to address the need for LGBTQ support groups on Christian college campuses as a means to help these students resolve internal identity conflicts. This article also will demonstrate a rationale for why these groups are needed, identify specific interventions that can be effective, provide implications for counselors, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Sex education,first sex and sexual health outcomes in adulthood: findings from a nationally representative sexual health survey

This study investigated the relationship between school sex education and sexual health behaviours at first sex and later in adulthood, using nationally representative data. Respondents were adults from the 2010 Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy Survey, a cross-sectional survey designed to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours relating to sex, contraception and pregnancy in Ireland. Results indicate that respondents who received sex education were more likely to have first sex at an older age and use contraception on this occasion. Sex education also significantly increased the likelihood of using contraception at first sex, when first sex occurred before 17 years of age. The effect of sex education and sexual health behaviours into adulthood was also investigated. Sex education increased the likelihood of having a history of sexually transmitted infection testing and decreased the likelihood of having experienced a crisis pregnancy. No association was found between sex education and contraception use over the past year. Findings suggest that sex education is an important factor in the context of first sex and later sexual health, and programmes should continue to equip young people as they make immediate sexual behaviour decisions and further sexual health-related decisions throughout their lifespan.     

USING FOCUS GROUPS AS AN EDUCATIONAL METHODOLOGY: DECONSTRUCTING STEREOTYPES AND SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING AGING AND OLDER ADULTS

During the coming years the number of older adults will increase dramatically, which will require a corresponding increase in the number of social workers who have accurate knowledge of this population. This article reports the impact focus groups with older adults and with service providers who work with older adults and their families have on baccalaureate social work (BSW) students. We find that BSW students exposed to focus groups have their negative attitudes about older adults and service providers deconstructed and replaced with more positive and accurate information about older adults. When students' misconceptions about older adults are confronted, they become more interested in choosing geriatric social work as a career option.     

History of physical and/or sexual abuse and current suicidality in college women

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between a history of physical and/or sexual abuse and current suicidality in college-age women. It was hypothesized that abuse history would significantly predict level of suicidality. A secondary hypothesis was that abuse status would predict attitudes about life and death. METHOD: Female college students (n = 707) were screened for histories of childhood (before age 15) and adulthood (after age 15) contact sexual abuse and physical abuse sequelae. Ninety-five women reported a history of childhood sexual abuse, 116 adult sexual abuse, 104 child physical abuse, and 55 adult physical abuse. Participants completed measures of attitudes about life and death and current suicidal ideation. RESULTS: Child physical abuse and child sexual abuse accounted for variance in current suicidal ideation. Adult sexual abuse explained variance in positive attitudes about life. Adult physical abuse, adult sexual abuse, and child sexual abuse accounted for variance in negative attitudes about life. Finally, child sexual abuse and adult sexual abuse accounted for variance in fear of death. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed assessment of female college students' abuse histories should facilitate understanding of their level of suicide risk. Patterns of attitudes about life and death may also be informative.     

Learning Autonomously: The learners' perspectives

This research project was primarily concerned with undergraduate students' attitudes and expectations of autonomous learning and their readiness for such a learning approach. The underlying assumption of the study is that students' attitudes towards and preparedness for autonomous learning will determine the level of autonomy that they could achieve in the learning process. The paper will report on the significant findings and the reflective observations which I hope will help both curriculum planners and teachers to think of ways to develop student autonomy in their specific context.     

Study of a multigenerational learning program in Taiwan

The aim of the Multigenerational Learning Program (MLP) is to increase multigenerational interactions through activities, which will help all learners including middle aged to older adults, university students, and children to improve multigenerational understanding, and increase their positive attitudes toward each other. The MLP activities were conducted between February 2012 and June 2014. A total of 196 middle aged to older adults, 10 university students and 163 children participated in multiple sessions. The authors’ survey results revealed that the participating children’s attitude toward the adults and elder generations became somewhat more positive from pre-test to post-test, but not significantly. Interestingly, it was also shown that elder participants’ attitudes toward the children did not change significantly from pre-test to post-test. Furthermore, all participants enjoyed participation in the MLP and demonstrated strong interest in repeating the program.

The Multigenerational Learning Program (MLP) undoubtedly has a role to play in the social context of the Taiwan today. Taiwan has an aging population, as the birth rate has declined and people are living longer in the meanwhile (Hong, Hwang, Liang, & Chang, 2008). Recently, it has been argued that Taiwanese societies hold negative stereotypes and misconceptions about the elderly and the aging process including traits like physical and mental deterioration, depression, irritability, dependence, inactivity, and isolation. Such negative views could lead to age-based discrimination (Hong et al., 2008). Unfortunately, developing positive attitudes toward older adults has become increasingly difficult, given that many children do not have the opportunities they once had for continued contact with the elderly due to changing family structures, increasing in single-parent and two working-parent families, and often, families relocate to communities that offer more job opportunities (Martin, Springate, & Atkinson, 2010).     

Influences on attitudes toward physical affection between adults and children

Recent publicity about sexual abuse may be creating unwarranted negative attitudes toward normal physical affection. In this study, 301 subjects (parents, nonparents, and early childhood professionals) rated approval of videotaped adult-child interactions. Before viewing the tape, half of the subjects read a statement about sexual abuse and the other half read about the benefits of touch. Within each group, half of the subjects were told that the videotaped adults were parents and the others thought that they were day care providers. Analysis of approval scores for touch and no-touch scenes showed that (a) when subjects are attuned to sexual abuse, they are more disapproving of affectionate touching and more approving of nonphysical interactions; (b) affection is more highly approved when it comes from a parent than from a day care provider; (c) men approve less of adultchild physical affection than women do; and (d) early childhood professionals are more approving of physical affection.     

Perceived Sex Education and Its Association with Consent Attitudes,Intentions, and Communication

Abstract

A greater understanding of how sexual consent is learned may be important in informing interventions to decrease sexual assault and ensure pleasurable sexual experiences. This study explored the role of quality and quantity of perceived sex education in relation to sexual consent attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Greater perceived sex education was associated with positive attitudes toward consent for all participants and with intentions to obtain consent only for those with fewer years of general education. Interestingly, perceived sex education was unrelated to a test of sexual knowledge. However, objective sexual knowledge was associated with consent attitudes and behaviors.     

Meeting the needs of adolescent and emerging adult victims of sexual violence in their romantic relationships: A mixed methods study exploring barriers to help-seeking

BackgroundSexual dating violence is highly prevalent within the context of intimate relationships but this form of violence remains understudied among teenagers and emerging adults.ObjectivesTo identify the specific needs of adolescents and emerging adults who reported sexual dating violence, this study aimed to document the: 1) prevalence of sexual DV; 2) perceived social support and help-seeking strategies; 3) facilitating factors and barriers.Participants and settingA total 396 heterosexual youths and emerging adults (aged 14–25) participated in this study focussing on issues associated with romantic and sexual relationships, including experiences of victimization and help-seeking strategies.MethodsThis analysis relied on a mixed methods design. Sexual dating violence in the last 12 months was assessed using an adapted version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subsample of 100 youths and emerging adults.ResultsClose to 30% of participants reported having experienced at least one episode of sexual dating violence in the past year. Participants could count on a friend and/or a parent but girls were more likely to seek help compared to boys. Effect sizes were moderate to small. Several barriers were identified, including, having to disclose intimate aspects of their personal life to a stranger.ConclusionGiven ambiguities regarding sexual consent and sexual violence within the context of an intimate relationship, victims expressed reluctance to get formal support. These findings support the relevance of exploring barriers and facilitators to help-seeking to improve access to services for adolescents and emerging adults who report sexual DV.     

Doing it by the book: natural tales of marriage and sex in contemporary Chinese marriage manuals

This paper examines the construction of sexual knowledge in contemporary China through a typical instance of its production—the marriage manual Marital Medicine. China's reform era has seen rapid changes in attitudes to sex and in sexual conduct, and recent government interest in sex education has been motivated by a desire to halt the ‘negative impact’ of modernization on marriage and the family. Education for legitimately sexually active adults has taken a number of different forms, but the diversity of media is not matched by diversity of content. Sexual knowledge speaks in an overwhelmingly uniform and universalizing voice, and is constructed around a nature narrative, which sets out how bodies are sexed, how bodies have sex, and the legitimate forms of their intimate relationships. This paper is an examination of the production (rather than consumption) of sexual knowledge, and shows the current boundaries of ‘normal’, ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ within which people understand and make choices about their sexual lives.