Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a staff sexuality training programme as a means of improving the rehabilitative management of client sexual health concerns after neurological disability.
Design: A prospective controlled pre- and posttest evaluation design with six-month follow-up.
Subjects: Seventy-four multidisciplinary rehabilitation and disability staff who attended a two-day workshop, and a control group of 25 staff members who did not receive the training.
Setting: Two workshops were held at major rehabilitation centres in the North and South Islands of New Zealand respectively.
Main measures: The Sex Attitude Scale, as well as three purpose-designed measures including an objective knowledge test, a self-rating inventory of skills and clinical activity, and a single-item measure of the degree of staff comfort.
Results: Workshop participants showed significant increases in knowledge, skills and comfort comparing pre-to post-workshop scores. A number of these gains were maintained at the six-month follow-up. There was an associated increase in the level of reported staff activity in addressing patient/client sexual health concerns in the six months to follow-up, compared to a similar time period preceding the workshop. In contrast, the control group had similar pre-workshop scores to the workshop participants, but recorded no increase on the measures, or in their level of reported activity, at the six-month follow-up.
Conclusions: The programme showed initial promise as an effective intervention in upgrading the capacity of staff working in rehabilitation and disability agencies to address the sexual health concerns of their patients/clients.
