Improving the sexual lives of older Australians: Perspectives from a qualitative study

Fileborn, Bianca; Lyons, Anthony; Hinchliff, Sharron; Brown, Graham; Heywood, Wendy; Dow, Briony; Malta, Sue; Minichiello, Victor

doi:10.1111/ajag.12405

Cited by 16 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Our findings contribute to the understanding of sexual activity in later life, and respond to the claim by older adults that their lives can be improved by normalising sexual activity and desire [ 51 ]. Here we illustrate that reductions in cognitive function form a potential barrier to maintaining or instigating intimate relationships.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Cognitive Impairment, Sexual Activity and Physical Tenderness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Exploration

et al. 2018

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Background: The ability to engage in sexual activity and better cognitive functioning are both associated with better health. However, the association between cognitive functioning and sexual activity is understudied. Objective: To examine the association between cognitive functioning with sexual activity and physical tenderness among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: From the Rotterdam Study, cognitive impairment and sexual activity were assessed in 4,201 community-dwelling, 60+ year olds between 2008 and 2014 in the Netherlands. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was based upon subjective complaints related to age and education-adjusted test scores. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) impairment was defined by a score of < 26. Sexual activity and physical tenderness (e.g., fondling or kissing) in the last 6 months were assessed at an interview. Analyses were stratified by gender and partner status, with prevalence rates for the “no impairment” categories weighted based on age from the cognitive impairment categories. Inter-rater reliability was examined utilising 74 cohabiting couples of opposite gender. Results: It was found that 14% were categorised as having cognitive impairment, and < 1% as dementia (excluded from subsequent analyses). There was strong evidence that the odds of engaging in physical tenderness (observed through MMSE < 26, OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.32–3.48, p = 0.002) and sexual activity (MCI, OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.35–4.12, p = 0.003) among partnered females with no impairment was twice that observed among cognitively impaired partnered females. There was weak evidence that the odds of engaging in physical tenderness (MMSE < 26, OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04–2.42, p = 0.03) and sexual activity (MMSE < 26, OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.02–2.24, p = 0.04) among partnered males with no impairment was 50% greater than observed among cognitively impaired partnered males. The associations between cognitive functioning and physical tenderness continued to remain after adjustment for physical function, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. There was no clear evidence of a difference between amnestic and non-amnestic MCI for sexual behaviour. There was moderate to substantial agreement among the coupled adults who had 1 partner categorised with MCI. Conclusion: Having no cognitive impairment was associated with more engagement in sexual activity and physical tenderness among community-dwelling older adults. Sexuality is an important aspect of active aging and our findings illustrate a potential barrier to maintaining or instigating intimate relationships as we age. Longitudinal analyses are required to explore the direction of effect.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Cognitive Impairment, Sexual Activity and Physical Tenderness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Exploration

et al. 2018

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“…Likewise, sexual health campaigns must strive to be inclusive of older individuals and communicate that older people are also susceptible to STIs or other sexual health‐related matters. Such work could be supported by, for example, ensuring that older Australians are explicitly addressed in sexual health policy, and we reiterate recent calls for such action here . Some participants in our study viewed sexual health as irrelevant to them, even if they were in relatively ‘high‐risk’ relationships , and this likely acts as a significant barrier to discussing sex with their HCP.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Talking to healthcare providers about sex in later life: Findings from a qualitative study with older Australian men and women

et al. 2017

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“…In general, the methodological quality of the articles included in the thematic synthesis was Moderate (mean quality = 5.66). Seven articles exhibited High quality [58,61,64,68,69,71,74], which represents 38.89% of the total of studies; eight studies presented Moderate quality [59,60,62,63,65,70,72,75], which represents 44.44% of the total; and only three studies showed Low quality [66,67,73], which represents 16.67% of the total. Discrepant scores were shown in Items 3 and 6.…”

Section: Methodological Quality Assessment Of Studies Includedmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Discrepant scores were shown in Items 3 and 6. Item 3 refers to the adequacy of the research design with respect to its objectives, and 15 studies [58,59,61,62,[64][65][66][67][68][70][71][72][73][74][75] were inadequate as regards this criterion. Only one study [64] adequately met the requirements of Item 6, which deals with considerations in the relationship between researchers and participants.…”

Section: Methodological Quality Assessment Of Studies Includedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the following section, we provide an overview of the main findings of our review. The studies included in our review [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75] identified three main thematic areas related to the impact of different sexual conditioning factors in older adults. Table 5 shows the main findings of our review.…”

Section: Findings From Thematic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Factors Conditioning Sexual Behavior in Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

Ricoy-Cano

Obrero‐Gaitán

Sánchez

et al. 2020

JCM

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The sexual behavior of older adults, especially women, has undergone changes in recent years, though there are still certain stereotypes today related to pathophysiology, beliefs, culture and tradition that negatively affect older adults’ sexual activity. The aim of our review is to present the main qualitative studies analyzing how physiological and psychosocial factors affect sexual behavior in older adults. A systematic review of these qualitative studies was carried out. All stages of this review were carried out peer-to-peer in order to guarantee minimized bias. A bibliographical search was completed between February and April 2019, in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed Medline, PsycINFO ProQuest and CINAHL. To analyze the findings of the selected qualitative studies, a “Thematic Synthesis Analysis” was performed, using Eppi-Reviewer 4 software (UCL Institute of Education, University of London, UK). The quality of the studies was assessed with a CASP-Qualitative-Checklist. A total of 16,608 references were screened and 18 qualitative studies were included in this review. The studies involved 2603 participants across seven countries, most being women (approximately 80%). We identified a wide variety of physiological and psychological factors that can influence the sexual behavior of older adults, such as the presence of pathologies (erectile dysfunction and menopause), the strength of spiritual beliefs, and patriarchal roles upheld by upbringings conveying that women’s role is to provide men with sexual pleasure. Biological age in relation to stereotypical models of sexual behavior, emphasized as a risk factor in the contraction of sexual diseases, seems to play a relevant role as a factor limiting sexual behavior in older adults.

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Improving the sexual lives of older Australians: Perspectives from a qualitative study

Cited by 16 publications

References 24 publications

Cognitive Impairment, Sexual Activity and Physical Tenderness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Exploration

Cognitive Impairment, Sexual Activity and Physical Tenderness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Exploration

Talking to healthcare providers about sex in later life: Findings from a qualitative study with older Australian men and women

Factors Conditioning Sexual Behavior in Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

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