Sexual dysfunction is one of the most common and distressing consequences of cancer treatment. Although some treatment-related sexual adverse effects are short-term, many survivors face long-term effects such as treatment-induced menopause, altered gonadal function, and significant surgical disfigurement. Profound sexual dysfunction has been shown to have a significant negative effect on quality of life. Although these problems have been well documented and there are a range of intervention strategies that can help patients cope with treatment-related sexual problems, many survivors do not feel prepared for potential sexual changes and often do not receive adequate support to manage sexual dysfunction. Numerous barriers contribute to this underprovided aspect of survivorship care, including lack of provider training and access to readily available resources. In addition, psychological, relational, and cultural factors significantly influence sexuality but are often not taken into consideration in research and clinical practice. By taking an integrative approach and providing survivors with appropriate screening, information, and support, sexual dysfunction and accompanying distress can be significantly alleviated. In this article, we aim to provide a concise review of the most common sexual problems experienced by survivors and highlight some of the most promising evidence-based practices for assessment and intervention. We also address limitations encountered in research and practice and explore future directions, including suggestions for adopting an integrative treatment model to address sexual dysfunction in a cancer survivorship treatment setting.

Objectives Studies of PTSD document a significant proportion of cancer survivors reporting severe posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, even when they do not meet full diagnostic criteria. However, few studies have directly examined the clinical significance of these “partial-PTSD” symptoms in survivors. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in a cohort of long-term survivors of HL, and to explore the clinical relevance of the partial-PTSD phenomenon by assessing impairment of function secondary to sub-threshold symptomatology. Methods The Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), was completed by 105 HL survivors and 101 sibling controls. Survivors age at time of participation ranged from 24–71 years, age at time of diagnosis ranged from 6–61 years, and the median time since diagnosis was 16 years (range = 7 – 34). Results PTSD prevalence was not significantly higher in HL survivors (13%) compared to sibling controls (6.9%, p = .098). However, a significantly larger proportion of survivors (35.2%) met criteria for partial-PTSD compared to siblings (17.8%, p = .004). Moreover, the majority of the survivors with partial-PTSD (86.5%) reported experiencing some functional impairment related to these PTS symptoms. Conclusions A significant number of HL survivors experience PTS symptoms severe enough to result in functional impairment. These findings underscore the importance of future research detailing the psychological and functional outcomes in survivors with partial-PTSD, and of careful clinical practice that assesses for functional impairment secondary to partial-PTSD symptomatology, in male and female survivors, even years after completion of therapy.

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Consistent with previous studies, HL survivors reported high rates of current sexual problems. However, no differences in sexual problems or sexual satisfaction were found between survivors and controls. Results indicate that over the long term, survivors' sexual functioning does not differ from noncancer controls. Findings underscore the importance of including healthy control groups to determine whether difficulties reported by cancer survivors can be attributed to cancer treatment.