title: Staff perceptions of same-gender sexual contacts in long-term care facilities.
abstract: An ongoing fear in the gay and lesbian community is that long-term care (LTC) facilities may not be sensitive to their needs. In the present study, 218 LTC staff members responded to one of three vignettes in which resident sexual contact was observed, with only the gender of the characters changing, to create different gender pairings. Results suggested that staff rated male-male and female-female pairings more negatively than heterosexual intimacy. Knowledge about older adult sexuality made little difference in staff ratings. However, staff attitudes were directly related to ratings of negative reaction and level of acceptability of same-gender sexuality.
authors.affiliation: VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kate L M
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
authors.forename: Tammi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vacha-Haase
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult