title: Sexual health discussions with older adult patients during periodic health exams.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sexual health is an integral part of overall health across the lifespan. In order to address sexual health issues, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexual functioning, the sexual history of adult patients should be incorporated as a routine part of the medical history throughout life. Physicians and health-care professionals cite many barriers to attending to and assessing the sexual health needs of older adult patients, underscoring the importance of additional research to improve sexual history taking among older patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this article is to explore the content and context of physician-patient sexual health discussions during periodic health exams (PHEs) with adults aged 50-80 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients completed a pre-visit telephone survey and attended a scheduled PHE with their permission to audio-record the exam. Transcribed audio recordings of 483 PHEs were analyzed according to the principles of qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Frequency of sexual history taking components as observed in transcripts of PHEs. Physician characteristics were obtained from health system records and patient characteristics were obtained from the pre-visit survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses revealed that approximately one-half of the PHEs included some discussion about sexual health, with the majority of those conversations initiated by physicians. A two-level logistic regression model revealed that patient-physician gender concordance, race discordance, and increasing physician age were significantly associated with sexual health discussions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interventions should focus on increasing physician self-efficacy for assessing sexual health in gender discordant and race/ethnicity concordant patient interactions. Interventions for older adults should increase education about sexual health and sexual risk behaviors, as well as empower individuals to seek information from their health-care providers.
authors: Department of Social and Behavioral HealthVirginia Commonwealth University/School of MedicineRichmondVAUSA. Electronic address: kaports@vcu.edu.
authors: Katie A
authors: KA
authors: Ports
authors: Department of PsychologyThe College of New JerseyEwingNJUSA.
authors: Jessica L
authors: JL
authors: Barnack-Tavlaris
authors: Cancer Center Comprehensive PartnershipSan Diego State University/University of California, San DiegoSan DiegoCAUSA.
authors: Maggie L
authors: ML
authors: Syme
authors: Department of BiostatisticsVirginia Commonwealth University/School of MedicineRichmondVAUSA.
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: Perera
authors: Department of Social and Behavioral HealthVirginia Commonwealth University/School of MedicineRichmondVAUSA.
authors: Jennifer Elston
authors: JE
authors: Lafata
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D060728:Reproductive Health; D012309:Risk-Taking; D020377:Self Efficacy; D044347:Sexology / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Older Adults; Patient-Physician Communication; Periodic Health Exams; Sexual Health; Sexual History