title: Are medical students interested in sexual health education? A nationwide survey.
abstract: The majority of medical students and medical healthcare providers do not feel comfortable when addressing sexual problems. It was suggested that more courses in sexual health are needed at medical schools to overcome this shortcoming. To assess medical students' interest in and attitude about sexual health education at medical schools in Germany, a 13-item online questionnaire was developed. The link to the questionnaire was distributed at all medical schools in Germany. In total, 3264 medical students (69.9% female) from all 37 medical schools in Germany participated. Students from all universities indicated that contents related to sexual health are taught at their university. The majority (n=1809; 62.1%) answered that courses in sexual health should be mandatory. The types of educational experiences that were viewed as most appropriate were lectures (n=2281, 78.3%) and seminars without patient contact (n=1414, 48.5%). Students were most interested in child sexual abuse and sexually transmitted infections. It should be ensured that all medical students have acquired basic knowledge in diagnosing and treating frequent sexual problems at the end of their medical studies. Suggestions are made about how to improve current efforts of sexual health education at medical schools.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Nieder
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Martyniuk
authors.affiliation: German Medical Students' Association, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Briken
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000193:education*; D012736:Sex Education; D013337:Students, Medical; D055815:Young Adult