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An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure
INTRODUCTION: Sexual health is an integral aspect of quality of life with important implications for satisfaction with intimate relationships, emotional well‐being, and life as a whole. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan frequently encounter a wide range of known risk factors for sexual he...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4721023/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26797063 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sm2.92 |
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author | Beaulieu, Gregory R. Latini, David M. Helmer, Drew A. Powers‐James, Catherine Houlette, Cheryl Kauth, Michael R. |
author_facet | Beaulieu, Gregory R. Latini, David M. Helmer, Drew A. Powers‐James, Catherine Houlette, Cheryl Kauth, Michael R. |
author_sort | Beaulieu, Gregory R. |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: Sexual health is an integral aspect of quality of life with important implications for satisfaction with intimate relationships, emotional well‐being, and life as a whole. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan frequently encounter a wide range of known risk factors for sexual health concerns. AIM: This article seeks to examine the overall frequency, important covariates associated with sexual difficulties, and the relevant domains of sexual dysfunction among a group of recent US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. METHODS: This is a retrospective chart review of 247 veterans of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan evaluated for an initial visit at the post‐deployment clinic of a large veterans affairs medical center (VAMC). Patient demographic and medical characteristics were calculated using descriptive statistics. The prevalence and burden of sexual health issues in our patient sample were calculated using descriptive statistics from these veterans' responses to a self‐report measure of sexual functioning. Item‐level regression analyses were then conducted between sexual functioning responses and other patient data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures used were the responses to the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX). RESULTS: Almost 18% of veterans screened positive for sexual functioning difficulties. Self‐reported sexual dysfunction was most strongly associated with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, female sex, and service connection rating. Co‐occurring characteristics varied with specific areas of sexual functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Screening using an empirically validated self‐report instrument indicates that there is a high prevalence of reported sexual dysfunction among recently deployed veterans. Analyses indicated that there are specific characteristics associated with both overall self‐reported sexual dysfunction and specific subtypes of sexual dysfunction. Active assessment of specific aspects of sexual dysfunction concerns may allow providers to identify and implement more precise sexual functioning interventions. Beaulieu GR, Latini DM, Helmer DA, Powers‐James C, Houlette C, and Kauth MR. An exploration of returning veterans sexual health issues using a brief self‐report measure. Sex Med 2015;3:287–294. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4721023 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-47210232016-01-21 An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure Beaulieu, Gregory R. Latini, David M. Helmer, Drew A. Powers‐James, Catherine Houlette, Cheryl Kauth, Michael R. Sex Med Original Research—Men's Sexual Health INTRODUCTION: Sexual health is an integral aspect of quality of life with important implications for satisfaction with intimate relationships, emotional well‐being, and life as a whole. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan frequently encounter a wide range of known risk factors for sexual health concerns. AIM: This article seeks to examine the overall frequency, important covariates associated with sexual difficulties, and the relevant domains of sexual dysfunction among a group of recent US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. METHODS: This is a retrospective chart review of 247 veterans of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan evaluated for an initial visit at the post‐deployment clinic of a large veterans affairs medical center (VAMC). Patient demographic and medical characteristics were calculated using descriptive statistics. The prevalence and burden of sexual health issues in our patient sample were calculated using descriptive statistics from these veterans' responses to a self‐report measure of sexual functioning. Item‐level regression analyses were then conducted between sexual functioning responses and other patient data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures used were the responses to the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX). RESULTS: Almost 18% of veterans screened positive for sexual functioning difficulties. Self‐reported sexual dysfunction was most strongly associated with depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, female sex, and service connection rating. Co‐occurring characteristics varied with specific areas of sexual functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Screening using an empirically validated self‐report instrument indicates that there is a high prevalence of reported sexual dysfunction among recently deployed veterans. Analyses indicated that there are specific characteristics associated with both overall self‐reported sexual dysfunction and specific subtypes of sexual dysfunction. Active assessment of specific aspects of sexual dysfunction concerns may allow providers to identify and implement more precise sexual functioning interventions. Beaulieu GR, Latini DM, Helmer DA, Powers‐James C, Houlette C, and Kauth MR. An exploration of returning veterans sexual health issues using a brief self‐report measure. Sex Med 2015;3:287–294. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2015-11-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4721023/ /pubmed/26797063 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sm2.92 Text en Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Sexual Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Sexual Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
spellingShingle | Original Research—Men's Sexual Health Beaulieu, Gregory R. Latini, David M. Helmer, Drew A. Powers‐James, Catherine Houlette, Cheryl Kauth, Michael R. An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title | An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title_full | An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title_fullStr | An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title_full_unstemmed | An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title_short | An Exploration of Returning Veterans' Sexual Health Issues Using a Brief Self‐Report Measure |
title_sort | exploration of returning veterans' sexual health issues using a brief self‐report measure |
topic | Original Research—Men's Sexual Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4721023/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26797063 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sm2.92 |
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