The article did not provide any new revelations to this issue. They authors seemed to be telling the audience thing they should already have knowledge of. They have not done enough research to present the reading audience with any new information that will stand out and be useful in dealing with this topic. In order to garner more interest in the subject, a quantitative study should be done which includes in depth information on the population. Until this is done, it is futile to come up with suggestions on how to deal with the issue. Concrete evidence must be gathered to provide a more accurate assessment and solution to the problem.
In order to serve this population justly and take on this issue in a meaningful way, a survey should have been constructed with multiple choice and open ended questions. Also, if there was enough of a comfort level among the population, a focus group could have been held on their sexuality. If patients felt uncomfortable participating in a focus group, then the survey would suffice as long as it was anonymous. The survey should not only focus on the person sexual habits, such as "How many times per week do you have sex?" but, rather it should focus on the individual's perception of their sexuality and how they feel about themselves. Questions should also be asked regarding the person's particular illness and how it affects their perception of their sexuality. By doing this the researchers can actually establish a pattern to determine what effects certain chronic illnesses have on a patient's sexual health.
Information can then be coded and entered into a statistical software package such as SPSS or something similar. This would give the researcher a clear picture of the issues that this population is actually dealing with. With concrete evidence such as that gathered directly from the patients, people are more likely to consider journal articles valid instead of containing information that is common sense to most....
Also, the findings presented in the research could lead to more studies to dig even deeper into the issue.
The title of the paper suggests that the authors are aiming at chronically ill older adults and their sexuality, but the information contained in the article could be applicable to any sexually active age group. The article needs more
quantitative research and less emphasis on presenting common sense information to the reader.
Conclusion
Pangman and Seguire were off to a good start with the beginning of this article. They did a thorough job of giving the reader background information on the perception of the sexual habits of the chronically ill older person. They make a point of noting that
nurses should be
education on this issue and that it should be included in the
nursing curriculum. They also state that those nurses interested in this older population take continuing education courses in gerontology. Most nurses can figure this out for themselves which makes this information provided no more than common sense.
The health assessment strategy in the article was rather weak. They provide a few sample questions on patient
history taking for people in this population, but the questions could pertain to just about any person who is sexually active or chronically ill. There is no type of quantitative information presented, so we do not get any new revelations on the topic. The authors basically tell us what others have said regarding this issue. They are basically regurgitating information and for this reason, this article would not be recommended to anyone interested in this topic.
Bibliography
Pangman, V.C. And Seguire, M. (2000). Sexuality and the chronically ill older adult: A social justice issue. Sexuality and Disability, 18(1), 49-59.
