Swedish Social Work Students’ Attitudes Toward Addressing Sexual Health Issues in Their Future Profession

Abstract

Sexual health is an important area for social work. Social workers' failure to address sexual health issues in social work practice, due to experienced discomfort, may create barriers toward clients, and lead to their decreased health. Investigating social work students' attitudes toward sexual health, and their perceived competence in this area is crucial for developing social work education on sexual health issues. The aim of the present study was to explore Swedish social work students' attitudes and perceived competence and educational needs regarding communicating about sexual health in their future profession. A quantitative study using the Students' Attitudes toward Sexual Health (SA-SH) in a Swedish sample of 242 social work students. The students considered knowledge about sexual health as important for their future profession. The response patterns indicated that students considered themselves uncomfortable and insufficiently prepared to handle issues related to sexual health in their future profession, which may affect how they succeed in addressing the needs of their future clients. The conclusion of this study is that social work students are insufficiently prepared to address issues concerning sexual health in their future profession. Social work programs need to increase sexual health education as well as training in communicating about sexual health issues in order to meet the needs of the clients.

Assessment of the Psychometrics of the Students' Attitudes towards Addressing Sexual Health Extended (SA-SH-Ext) Questionnaire for Social Educator Students

“…Prior to this study, research had shown that the face validity and content validity of the SA-SH-Ext were high, 42 and the usefulness of the SA-SH in other countries and contexts also implies the potential value of the questionnaire. 28 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 39 , 40 However, an additional psychometric assessment was essential to ensure the value of the SA-SH-Ext, since face validity is questioned as a psychometrically useful test. 49 , 50 The psychometric tests showed good internal consistency of the SA-SH-Ext, thus indicating that the novel items should be kept.…”

“… 38 The high value of sampling adequacy indicates the usefulness of the factor analysis of the SA-SH-Ext. By following the factor analysis of SA-SH-Ext and the experience of using the SA-SH and the SA-SH-EXT in various contexts, 31 , 33 , 36 , 39 , 42 the suggestion is that the domains for SA-SH-Ext should be revised. A proposed new set of domains are the following: (domain 1)” being comfortable,” (domain 2) “future client relations,” (domain 3) “future working relations” and (domain 4) “education & competence.…”

“…There have been studies measuring health care professional students´ attitudes towards addressing sexual health using the Students´ Attitudes towards addressing Sexual Health (SA-SH) questionnaire, 28 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 however not in Norway or with social educator students. Using previously validated and utilised questionnaires is resource-saving but may have limited suitability in the context being explored.…”

Social educator students' readiness to address sexual health in their future profession

“…Norwegian health professionals have reported insufficient competences, knowledge, training and education in the field of sexual health (Remme, 2018). There are studies showing insufficient readiness among students in health and welfare professions to address sexual health in their future profession (Areskoug Josefsson et al, 2016; Areskoug Josefsson & Fristedt, 2019; Areskoug Josefsson & Gard, 2015; Areskoug Josefsson, Rolander, et al, 2019; Ballan & Freyer, 2017; Felter, 2020), but none of these studies have included social educators focused on including attitudes towards persons living with intellectual disabilities, nor have they been performed in a Norwegian context. Other studies of students who are being educated to provide health advice for people with intellectual disabilities have reported a lack of competence in the field of sexual health (Ballan & Freyer, 2017; Dağlı et al, 2020; Felter, 2020; Fennell & Grant, 2019; McDaniels & Fleming, 2018), and have revealed misperceptions and stereotypical understanding of persons with intellectual disabilities (Ditchman et al, 2017; Grove et al, 2018; Kramers‐Olen, 2016).…”