ABSTRACT
Sexuality is an integral part of being human throughout life. This does not change when moving into long-term care (LTC). However, the sexual health of persons living in LTC is often overlooked. This paper presents an analysis of the recently released health organizational policy: Supporting Sexual Health and Intimacy in Long-Term Care, Assisted Living, Group Homes & Supported Housing. The Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis Framework is used to outline the policy problem, examine how this policy was developed, and evaluate its potential to address the problem. Key findings are that both the development process and the policy constructs align with principles of intersectionality, such as equity, reflexivity, and diverse knowledges. In conclusion, this analysis suggests this policy is feasible, equitable and could effectively address sexual health for persons living in LTC, while leading to an improved workplace for staff. We recommend that this policy be more widely adopted across Canada.
Subject(s)
Long-Term Care , Sexual Health , Group Homes , Health Policy , Housing , Humans , Intersectional Framework , Policy MakingSubject(s)
Choice Behavior , Patient Participation , Female , Human Rights , Humans , Informed Consent , Patient Satisfaction , Standard of CareSubject(s)
Long-Term Care , Patient Rights , Patient-Centered Care , Residential Facilities , Sexual Behavior , Adult , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Although it is well known that intimacy and sexual expression are an important part of being human and of healthy living, facilities such as nursing homes, adult group homes, or assisted living residences commonly struggle with knowing how to balance supporting residents who are incapable to have sexual lives with their duty to protect them from foreseeable harm. This article presents a challenging case and uses the British Columbia Supporting Sexual Health and Intimacy in Care Facility Guidelines to determine what should be done.
Subject(s)
Assisted Living Facilities/standards , Coitus , Decision Making , Personal Autonomy , Quality of Life , Safe Sex , Sexually Transmitted Diseases/prevention & control , Adult , British Columbia , Female , Group Homes/standards , Homes for the Aged/standards , Humans , Nursing Homes/standards , Organizational Case Studies , Practice Guidelines as TopicABSTRACT
Offering intensive care to neonates who have conditions that carry extremely poor prognoses is a source of great contention amongst neonatologists. The concept of best interests is commonly used as a rationale for refusing such care, despite the fact that parents of these infants often have a different view of what best interests means. This article takes up the question of what best interests should incorporate for infants with lethal conditions not curable with intensive care, and how and who should decide which treatment options should be implemented. Based on our recommendation that parents be apprised of the basis upon which physicians are evaluating treatment options, we offer a framework that allows all relevant parties to approach the issue of what is appropriate treatment from a similar place. We maintain that this approach will increase transparency, dialogue, understanding, and trust, which, in turn, may result in greater consensus.
Subject(s)
Abnormalities, Multiple , Decision Making/ethics , Intensive Care, Neonatal/ethics , Parents , Physicians/ethics , Problem Solving/ethics , Abnormalities, Multiple/therapy , Choice Behavior/ethics , Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 , Communication , Consensus , Ethics, Medical , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Negotiating , Time Factors , Trisomy , UncertaintyABSTRACT
Intimacy and sexual expression are an integral part of being human and of healthy living. However, this important aspect of well-being is often overlooked or avoided when a person enters a care facility such as a nursing home, group home, or assisted living residence. This article summarizes the new Supporting Sexual Health and Intimacy in Care Facilities Guidelines, which suggest ways of supporting healthy intimacy and sexuality in care facilities.
Subject(s)
Guidelines as Topic , Intermediate Care Facilities/standards , Patient Rights/standards , Sexual Behavior , Skilled Nursing Facilities/standards , Adult , Aged, 80 and over , British Columbia , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Although nurses in almost every long-term care facility face daily challenges involving issues related to residents' sexual lives, guidelines for ethically supporting sexual activity are rare and inadequate. A decision-making framework was developed to guide care providers in responding to the sexual expression of residents in long-term care. The framework recommends that nurses should weigh the documented substantial benefits of having a sexual life against harm to the resident and others, and against offence to others. This article illustrates the use of this ethical decision-making framework by using the example of nurses supporting a resident's expression of his sexuality. It is suggested that nurses use this framework to guide their practice when related ethical issues arise.
