This qualitative study investigated the meaning of sexuality to palliative patients. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten patients receiving care in a tertiary palliative care unit, a hospice or by palliative home care services in their homes. Several themes emerged. Emotional connection to others was an integral component of sexuality, taking precedence over physical expressions. Sexuality continues to be important at the end of life. Lack of privacy, shared rooms, staff intrusion and single beds were considered barriers to expressing sexuality in the hospital and hospice settings. Only one subject had previously been asked about sexuality as part of their clinical care, yet all felt that it should have been brought up, especially after the initial cancer treatments were completed. Home care nurses and physicians were seen as the appropriate caregivers to address this issue. Subjects unanimously mentioned that a holistic approach to palliative care would include opportunities to discuss the impact of their illness on their sexuality.

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Summary This study aimed to determine the parameters necessary for a study of stapedial reflexes in leprosy patients to ascertain if the facial nerve is involved more proximally than the stylomastoid foramen. It involved leprosy patients with and without facial nerve involvement and non-leprosy controls. Clinical examination of the patients' ears, a tympanogram and audiogram to exclude conductive and sensorineural deafness, followed by the measurement of a stapedial reflex and the acoustic reflex threshold, were carried out. The number of absent reflexes and the acoustic reflex thresholds did not differ between the three groups of subjects. A definitive study would be logistically impossible. Suggestions are made as to more exact patient selection in order to demonstrate any stapedial reflex changes due to leprosy. The findings of this study do not suggest that facial nerve pathology extends proximally to the stylomastoid foramen, unless such proximal involvement is subclinical to the detection methods used.