Sexuality Counseling for Adults With Disabilities: A Module for an Occupational Therapy Curriculum

Abstract

Occupational therapists, as well as other rehabilitation professionals, are aware that sexuality counseling is an important aspect of rehabilitation. However, occupational therapists have limited resources within their profession for training in this area. This paper describes the development, philosophy, goals, objectives, and format of the module "Sexuality and Disability" offered to occupational therapy students at Tufts University. Evaluations from the 288 students who have taken this module to date indicate that all students considered the module a pertinent part of their academic program. Other occupational therapy schools might wish to incorporate a similar component into their curricula to expand the resources within the profession for training in sexuality counseling.

Sexual Issues within Occupational Therapy, Part 1: Attitudes and Practice

“…Relevant articles have looked at particular client groups, for example, paediatrics (Evans 1985), women (Zukas and Ross-Robinson 1991), sexual offenders (Lloyd 1987) and elderly people (Goldstein and Runyon 1993); or specific disabilities, for example, spinal cord injury (Miller 1984, Novak andMitchell 1988), learning disability (Thompson 1994), burned adults (Cooper-Fraps and Yerxa 1984), low back pain (Ritchie and Daines 1992), mental illness (Sladyk 1990) and congenital and acquired physical disability (Evans 1987, Kennedy 1987, Brown 1988. Some describe educational programmes for occupational therapists working with adolescents and adults (Neistadt 1986) or elderly people (Goldstein and Runyon 1993). Indeed, Novak and Mitchell (1988, p110) stated that a therapist who does not include sexual behaviour in his or her treatment model 'is not practising from an occupational therapy perspective of holistic care'.…”

Addressing the Sexual Concerns of Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury in Rehabilitation Settings: A Framework for Action

“…Some discipline specific assessments in areas such as communication or physical functioning (Burton, 1996;Griffith & Lemberg, 1993;Zasler & Horn, 1990) will also have relevance in the treatment of sexual and relationship concerns. Lastly, some authors have discussed assessment approaches in the context of sexual counselling (Medlar, 1993;Valentich & Gripton, 1984-1986. The use of some or all of these assessment approaches will vary from agency to agency depending on composition and level of expertise of the rehabilitation staff.…”

“…• Treatment of endocrine dysfunction (Zasler & Horn, 1990) • Treatment of sexual dysfunction (Crenshaw, 1985;Zasler & Horn, 1990;Griffith & Lemberg, 1993) • Social skills training and community social integration (Blackerby, 1990;Griffith & Lemberg, 1993) • Teach appropriate masturbation skills (Blackerby, 1990) • Sexual counselling (Valentich & Gripton, 1984-1986Medlar, 1993) Permission Create an environment in which patients/clients know that it is all right to raise and discuss sexual concerns…”

Exploring the Activity of Daily Living of Sexual Activity: A Survey in Occupational Therapy Education

“…The exclusion of sexual activity in practice may be due to such barriers as discomfort (Jones, Weerakoon, & Pynor, 2005;Weerakoon et al, 2004), opinions regarding the relevance of sexual activity (Sakellariou & Algado, 2006), and a lack of resources and formal training (Neistadt, 1986). In addition, Couldrick (1998) found that many occupational therapists did not address sexual activity due to a lack of formal education.…”