Clinical Rehabilitation

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Simpson, G.
Right arrow Articles by Bertapelle, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Simpson, G.
Right arrow Articles by Bertapelle, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 20, No. 10, 847-859 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0269215506072180
© 2006 SAGE Publications

Improving the rehabilitative management of client sexual health concerns after neurological disability: evaluation of a staff sexuality training programme in New Zealand

Grahame Simpson

Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Liverpool Health Service, Sydney, Australia, grahame.simpson{at}swsahs.nsw.gov.au

Samir Anwar

Rehab Plus, Point Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand

Joan Wilson

ISIS Rehabilitation Centre, Dunedin, New Zealand

Tanya Bertapelle

Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Liverpool Health Service, Sydney, Australia

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a staff sexuality training programme as a means of improving the rehabilitative management of client sexual health concerns after neurological disability.

Design: A prospective controlled pre- and posttest evaluation design with six-month follow-up.

Subjects: Seventy-four multidisciplinary rehabilitation and disability staff who attended a two-day workshop, and a control group of 25 staff members who did not receive the training.

Setting: Two workshops were held at major rehabilitation centres in the North and South Islands of New Zealand respectively.

Main measures: The Sex Attitude Scale, as well as three purpose-designed measures including an objective knowledge test, a self-rating inventory of skills and clinical activity, and a single-item measure of the degree of staff comfort.

Results: Workshop participants showed significant increases in knowledge, skills and comfort comparing pre-to post-workshop scores. A number of these gains were maintained at the six-month follow-up. There was an associated increase in the level of reported staff activity in addressing patient/client sexual health concerns in the six months to follow-up, compared to a similar time period preceding the workshop. In contrast, the control group had similar pre-workshop scores to the workshop participants, but recorded no increase on the measures, or in their level of reported activity, at the six-month follow-up.

Conclusions: The programme showed initial promise as an effective intervention in upgrading the capacity of staff working in rehabilitation and disability agencies to address the sexual health concerns of their patients/clients.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?