Skip to main content

Sexual Health and OT

Growing up in the South, sex was a topic that was not talked about a lot and when it was it was done in a very "hush hush" way. I went to a public school in Alabama so sex ed class was very similar to the sex ed scene in Mean Girls. Thankfully I had parents and health care providers who were open to talking about such a taboo topic.

Sex Ed GIF

Fast forward to OT school. One of the first things we discussed was activities of daily living (ADLs) and meaningful occupations. We talked about how this could vary from person to person and the range of activities it could include, one of which being sex. For some, sex is a meaningful occupation. This would make it fall within the OT scope of practice. This past week in our older adult class we had a certified sex therapist come talk to us about how our two disciplines can work together. It was a time of learning for both the speaker and my class.

During this lecture we discussed various interventions. For a couple we learned that OT can help with positioning, energy conservation strategies and joint protection techniques. This can be helpful for a couple that wants to be intimate but might be dealing with pain from arthritis, issues with tone from a stroke or TBI, etc. Feedback from the couple would be key to see if the strategies were successful and if other interventions or other disciplines might need to be brought in. Another intervention we discussed was the importance of education. Often OT can be the first discipline to bring up the topic of sex and chances are clients probably have questions but might be too afraid to ask. OT's can educate an individual or a group on the importance of practicing safe sex and identify resources for birth control, condoms, OBGYN's, pregnancy crisis centers, etc. By providing our clients with accurate information about sex and resources at their disposal, we are enabling them to be more independent and making the topic of sex less taboo.

When discussing the topic of sex with a client it is important to remember that for most people this is a sensitive topic and OT might be the first to talk with them about it. It is also important to remember that more often than not, clients will come to us and need help from multiple disciplines, so we need to be prepared to collaborate with various providers.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is the OTPF?

The OTPF stands for Occupational Therapy Practice Framework. It is composed of ideas, concepts, and philosophies that guide OT. It addresses domain of OT, the OT process, occupations, and client factors. The domain of OT is the areas in which OT's have a great wealth of knowledge and expertise.  This is what defines the focus of OT. Client factors, performance skills, performance patterns, context, environment, and activity demand are all under the domain of OT practice. Each part of the domain brings a different part of occupational therapy to the table.  The OT process is the actions that a practitioner takes when providing services that are client-centered and focused on engagement in occupation. This is what defines the delivery of OT. Throughout the process, occupation remains central. There is also collaboration with the client throughout the process.  Occupations are ordinary, part of daily living, and are often taken for granted. They can be special when the...

Foundations Project

Nutrition & OT

Today in class we had a guest lecturer who spoke to us about nutrition and how OT's can be more involved. Nutrition is something that my OT's don't think about. Eating and feeding are within our scope of practice, but anything else to do with calorie consumption falls under the scope of a dietician. Essentially what we learned today was that when patients are in the hospital they are not getting enough calories/nutrients and so healing takes longer. This impacts therapy because without proper nutrition, patients are unable to do what we ask of them and do not make progress towards their goals. There are several ways that an OT can provide a nutrition intervention for their client. Prior to starting OT school, I observed a feeding session at a pediatric outpatient facility. Kids blew bubbles to prepare to eat and then rolled the dice to see how many times they had to lick/smell a food and then rolled the dice again to see how many bites of a certain food they had to take b...