Sexual Health Training and Education in the U.S.

Abstract

In 2011, both the National Prevention Strategy and Healthy People 2020 recognized "reproductive and sexual health" as a key area for improving the lives of Americans.1,2 This increasing national emphasis on sexual health provides an important opportunity to refocus the efforts of U.S. health-care professionals. While reproductive health has historically been considered a U.S. public health priority, 3 the addition of sexual health to the short list of national priorities has important implications for clinicians and patients. Broadly embracing the concept of sexual health in health-care settings has the potential to reduce redundancy in care compared with current, more categorical approaches and to minimize the stigma associated with some aspects of sexuality and related adverse outcomes. These changes could increase both clinical efficiency and the proportion of the population receiving sexual health services.To foster sexual health, the National Prevention Strategy and Healthy People 2020 recommend increasing access to sexual health services, emphasizing sexual health education and encouraging screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).1,2 To be most effective, these activities should involve both health-care providers (physicians, nurses, and related clinical providers) and patient audiences. Although this new national emphasis represents an opportunity to improve sexual health throughout the country, it also represents a challenge for the health-care community. The approach to patient care in matters of sexuality and sexual behavior will need to be reframed in subtle but critical ways. To meet this challenge, educational efforts for both health-care providers and patients will need to shift to support a more comprehensive approach to understanding and promoting sexual health throughout the life span.

Attitudes Toward HIV Among Health Professions Students in the Southeastern United States: Implications for Interprofessional Education

“…These findings support the expansion of sexual health education for providers, which is sorely lacking in health professions training programs the United States (Ford, Barnes, Rompalo, & Hook, 2013). In other words, rather than instituting an HIV-specific education module as suggested in previous studies (e.g., Carney et al, 1994), implementing a broader interprofessional sexual health curriculum could increase students' comfort and competence with a range of interrelated issues including HIV, healthy sexuality, sexual dysfunction, and sexual orientation and gender identity (Ford et al, 2013;West et al, 2012). In addition, multidisciplinary training in sexual health could improve future providers' ability to communicate with colleagues from other disciplines about these often-overlooked topics in a forthright, informed, and culturallycompetent manner.…”

Sexually Transmitted Infection Related Stigma and Shame Among African American Male Youth: Implications for Testing Practices, Partner Notification, and Treatment

“…Reversing this trend requires the health establishment to play a pivotal role in demystifying and reframing STIs in future awareness-raising campaigns, and re-education of providers to ensure nonjudgmental service provision. 33,34 Several limitations of this study are worth noting. This is a small sample, which impacts the power to detect associations.…”

Mitigating the Risk of Infectious Diseases Among Rural Drug Users in Western North Carolina: Results of the Southern Appalachia Test, Link, Care (SA‐TLC) Health Care Provider Survey

“…Providers also commonly reported being unsure of the number of their patients using drugs, with the number of uncertain respondents increasing when it came to questions about injection behaviors. Studies of provider communication suggest that reticence to engage patients in discussions about sensitive subjects is rooted in a lack of education about communication strategies and best practices . Thus, educational interventions focused on increasing provider self‐efficacy in addressing sexual and drug use behaviors might be a particularly high‐yield intervention for providers in areas dealing with increasing opioid use.…”