Marion Aupomerol, Jean Zeghondy, Patricia Pautier, Alessandro Viansone, Anna Ilenko, Florian Scotte, Ines Vaz-Luis, Maria Alice Franzoi
{"title":"Assessing the perceived usefulness and impact of a sexual health consultation service for female patients in a comprehensive cancer center.","authors":"Marion Aupomerol, Jean Zeghondy, Patricia Pautier, Alessandro Viansone, Anna Ilenko, Florian Scotte, Ines Vaz-Luis, Maria Alice Franzoi","doi":"10.1007/s11764-025-01827-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Cancer and its treatments significantly impact women's sexual health, yet addressing sexual concerns remains inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of a sexual health consultation service for female patients undergoing cancer treatment or follow-up care, and assess patient perceptions of its usefulness.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In November 2020, a sexual health consultation service was introduced at Gustave Roussy. Between November 2020 and February 2022, a survey was distributed to female patients who utilized the service. It assessed experiences, the perceived value of the consultation, resources provided, and improvements in sexual health post-consultation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 153 surveys, 119 responses were received (77.8% response rate). The sexual health consultation was deemed useful by 87.4% of the participants and 74% found the resources helpful. Common concerns included vulvo-vaginal dryness (76%), dyspareunia (67%), and hypoactive desire (47%). After the consultation, 44% reported improvements in vaginal dryness. Furthermore, 44.5% felt more comfortable discussing sexual health concerns with other healthcare providers, and 46% felt more at ease discussing these issues with their partner.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The high-perceived usefulness of the sexual health consultation, coupled with significant improvements in symptoms and communication skills, demonstrates the feasibility and value of integrating sexual health consultations into cancer care.</p><p><strong>Implications for cancer survivors: </strong>This approach enhances patient support and addresses an essential aspect of comprehensive cancer care, promoting a holistic focus on the well-being of cancer survivors.</p>","PeriodicalId":15284,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cancer Survivorship","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cancer Survivorship","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-025-01827-z","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ONCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Cancer and its treatments significantly impact women's sexual health, yet addressing sexual concerns remains inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of a sexual health consultation service for female patients undergoing cancer treatment or follow-up care, and assess patient perceptions of its usefulness.
Methods: In November 2020, a sexual health consultation service was introduced at Gustave Roussy. Between November 2020 and February 2022, a survey was distributed to female patients who utilized the service. It assessed experiences, the perceived value of the consultation, resources provided, and improvements in sexual health post-consultation.
Results: Of 153 surveys, 119 responses were received (77.8% response rate). The sexual health consultation was deemed useful by 87.4% of the participants and 74% found the resources helpful. Common concerns included vulvo-vaginal dryness (76%), dyspareunia (67%), and hypoactive desire (47%). After the consultation, 44% reported improvements in vaginal dryness. Furthermore, 44.5% felt more comfortable discussing sexual health concerns with other healthcare providers, and 46% felt more at ease discussing these issues with their partner.
Conclusions: The high-perceived usefulness of the sexual health consultation, coupled with significant improvements in symptoms and communication skills, demonstrates the feasibility and value of integrating sexual health consultations into cancer care.
Implications for cancer survivors: This approach enhances patient support and addresses an essential aspect of comprehensive cancer care, promoting a holistic focus on the well-being of cancer survivors.
期刊介绍：
Cancer survivorship is a worldwide concern. The aim of this multidisciplinary journal is to provide a global forum for new knowledge related to cancer survivorship. The journal publishes peer-reviewed papers relevant to improving the understanding, prevention, and management of the multiple areas related to cancer survivorship that can affect quality of care, access to care, longevity, and quality of life. It is a forum for research on humans (both laboratory and clinical), clinical studies, systematic and meta-analytic literature reviews, policy studies, and in rare situations case studies as long as they provide a new observation that should be followed up on to improve outcomes related to cancer survivors. Published articles represent a broad range of fields including oncology, primary care, physical medicine and rehabilitation, many other medical and nursing specialties, nursing, health services research, physical and occupational therapy, public health, behavioral medicine, psychology, social work, evidence-based policy, health economics, biobehavioral mechanisms, and qualitative analyses. The journal focuses exclusively on adult cancer survivors, young adult cancer survivors, and childhood cancer survivors who are young adults. Submissions must target those diagnosed with and treated for cancer.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
