TY - JOUR
T1 - Patients’ Perspectives and Advice on How to Discuss Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Sexual Health in Oncology Clinics
AU - Cathcart-Rake, Elizabeth
AU - O’Connor, Jennifer
AU - Ridgeway, Jennifer L.
AU - Breitkopf, Carmen Radecki
AU - Kaur, Judith S.
AU - Mitchell, Jessica
AU - Leventakos, Konstantinos
AU - Jatoi, Aminah
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under the Award Number(s) UG1CA189823 (Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology NCORP Grant) and U10CA180790.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Objective: This study sought to understand the patients’ perspective of what contributes to an absence of discussions of sexual orientation (SO), gender identity (GI), and sexual health in cancer care. Methods: Patients were recruited from oncology, gynecology, and a gender transition clinic to participate in semistructured interviews, which were analyzed with qualitative methods. Results: A total of 25 patients were interviewed, shedding light on 2 themes. The first was that these conversations are important but infrequent. One patient explained, “…. we know people who have had sex changes…[they] would have appreciated that question.” In response to whether sexual health was ever brought up, one patient responded, “No doctor ever has.” Patients described unaddressed issues: “There have been times, you know, we’ve wondered if it was okay to make love.” The second theme consisted of 4 pragmatic, patient-provided points to facilitate discussions: (1) implementation of a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being comfortable) to first gauge patients’ comfort in talking about SO, GI, and sexual health; (2) having the health-care provider explore the topic again over-time; (3) making sure the health-care provider is comfortable, as such comfort appears to enhance the patient’s comfort (“I have a doctor here, a female doctor, who just matter of fact will ask if I get erections and so on because of the medication she’s giving me);” and (4) eliminating euphemisms (one patient stated, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘sexual health’.”). Conclusion: Oncology health-care providers have a unique opportunity and responsibility to address SO, GI, and sexual health.
AB - Objective: This study sought to understand the patients’ perspective of what contributes to an absence of discussions of sexual orientation (SO), gender identity (GI), and sexual health in cancer care. Methods: Patients were recruited from oncology, gynecology, and a gender transition clinic to participate in semistructured interviews, which were analyzed with qualitative methods. Results: A total of 25 patients were interviewed, shedding light on 2 themes. The first was that these conversations are important but infrequent. One patient explained, “…. we know people who have had sex changes…[they] would have appreciated that question.” In response to whether sexual health was ever brought up, one patient responded, “No doctor ever has.” Patients described unaddressed issues: “There have been times, you know, we’ve wondered if it was okay to make love.” The second theme consisted of 4 pragmatic, patient-provided points to facilitate discussions: (1) implementation of a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being comfortable) to first gauge patients’ comfort in talking about SO, GI, and sexual health; (2) having the health-care provider explore the topic again over-time; (3) making sure the health-care provider is comfortable, as such comfort appears to enhance the patient’s comfort (“I have a doctor here, a female doctor, who just matter of fact will ask if I get erections and so on because of the medication she’s giving me);” and (4) eliminating euphemisms (one patient stated, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘sexual health’.”). Conclusion: Oncology health-care providers have a unique opportunity and responsibility to address SO, GI, and sexual health.
KW - cancer
KW - discussion
KW - gender identity
KW - qualitative
KW - sexual health
KW - sexual orientation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082408997&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85082408997&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1049909120910084
DO - 10.1177/1049909120910084
M3 - Article
C2 - 32212925
AN - SCOPUS:85082408997
VL - 37
SP - 1053
EP - 1061
JO - American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
JF - American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
SN - 1049-9091
IS - 12
ER -