Talking about sex: a qualitative study on the physician’s inner experience

Titolo Rivista RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA
Autori/Curatori Daniela Leone, Ivan Fossati, Edoardo Pescatori, Elena Vegni
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2017/2 Lingua Inglese
Numero pagine 19 P. 51-69 Dimensione file 258 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSC2017-002004
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The study aimed to explore clinicians’ subjective difficulties related to talking with patients about sexuality. Forty-four physicians were recruited during a one-day congress about erectile dysfunction, where they were asked to write a narrative about an episode in which they found themselves in difficulty talking with a patient about sex. Narratives were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four main issues with sub-issues arose from the data: 1. What: cognitive contents and emotions; 2. How: talking about sex, the problem of language; 3. As if: the metaphoric view of the profession; 4. Who: me as a man. Clinical and educational implications are discussed.

L’obiettivo del presente lavoro è quello di esplorare le difficoltà dei clinici nel par-lare con i pazienti di tematiche riguardanti la sessualità. Quarantaquattro medici sono stati reclutati durante una giornata di congresso sulla disfunzione erettile, du-rante la quale è stato chiesto loro di scrivere una narrazione su un episodio in cui si sono trovati in difficoltà a parlare di sesso con il paziente. Le narrazioni sono state analizzate utilizzando l’Analisi Interpretativa Fenomenologica. Dall’analisi dei dati sono emerse quattro tematiche principali, con relative sotto-tematiche: 1. Cosa: contenuti cognitivi ed emozioni; 2. Come: parlare di sesso, il problema del linguaggio; 3. Come se: la prospettiva metaforica della professione; 4. Chi: io come uomo. Le implicazioni cliniche e formative dei risultati sono state infine discusse.

Keywords:Analisi Interpretativo Fenomenologica; disfunzione erettile; mondo interno del medico; parlare di sesso; relazione medico-paziente; ricerca qualitativa.

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Daniela Leone, Ivan Fossati, Edoardo Pescatori, Elena Vegni, Talking about sex: a qualitative study on the physician’s inner experience in "RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA" 2/2017, pp 51-69, DOI: 10.3280/RSC2017-002004