title: Experiences, attitudes, and needs related to sexuality and service delivery in individuals with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the experiences, attitudes, and needs related to service delivery regarding sexuality issues in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-dwelling individuals with TBI having completed a post-acute TBI rehabilitation program. The TBI sample consisted of 16 men (42.1%) and 22 women (57.9%), with an average age of 38.9 years (SD = 9.9) and 12.8 years of education (SD = 2.8). They were on average 2.6 years post-injury (SD = 1.4). Glasgow coma scale at admission was on average 12.6 (SD = 3.5). Participants completed a questionnaire adapted to individuals with TBI addressing experiences, attitudes, and needs regarding sexuality and service delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individuals with TBI reported a low frequency of specific discussions with their treating clinician(s) about sexual and reproductive health issues, as well as many unmet needs regarding sexuality. None of the participants considered discussion about these issues to be inappropriate. They reported more favourable attitudes towards discussing sexual health topics compared to actual service delivery with family physicians, general practitioners, psychologists, and other health care professionals (p's <  0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individuals with TBI desired more openness about discussing sexual concerns. Findings are discussed in terms of the clinical implications to meet the individuals' needs regarding sexual concerns after TBI.
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) - Centre de Réadaptation Lucie-Bruneau (CRLB), Montréal, Québec, Canada.|Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC), Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Caron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Concussion Care Centre of Virginia, Ltd., and Tree of Life Services, Inc., Richmond, VA, USA.|Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zasler
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation (CRIR) - Centre de Réadaptation Lucie-Bruneau (CRLB), Montréal, Québec, Canada.|Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC), Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McKerral
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019529:Sexuality
keywords: Experiences; attitudes; needs; service delivery; sexuality; traumatic brain injury