title: Assessment of physicians' addressing sexuality in elderly patients with chronic pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency with which physicians address their older adult patients with chronic pain about the issue of sexuality.
  
  
  METHODS
  It is a cross sectional, descriptive, analytical study in which physicians answered a questionnaire comprising questions related to addressing the issue of sexuality during appointments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A sample of 155 physicians was obtained, 63.9% stated they did not address sexuality in medical interviews and 23.2% did it most of the time. The main reasons for not addressing were lack of time, fear of embarrassing the patient and technical inability to address the issue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a need to develop strategies to increase and improve addressing of sexuality in elderly patients with chronic pain, in order to have better quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Determinar a frequência com que os médicos abordam o assunto de sexualidade com seus pacientes mais idosos com dor crônica.
  Este é um estudo transversal, descritivo, analítico em que os médicos responderam a um questionário com perguntas relativas à abordagem de sexualidade nas consultas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Uma amostra de 155 médicos foi obtida, 63,9% afirmaram que não realizavam a abordagem da sexualidade e 23,2% afirmaram fazê-la na maior parte das vezes. As principais razões para não abordarem foram falta de tempo, medo de constranger o paciente e incapacidade técnica para abordar o assunto.
  Existe uma necessidade de desenvolver estratégias para aumentar e melhorar a abordagem de sexualidade em idosos com dor crônica, de forma a melhorar sua qualidade de vida.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Guilherme Liausu
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Cherpak
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fânia Cristina Dos
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000628:therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life; D019529:Sexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires