Consulenza telefonica per problematiche sessuali: attività e metodi dell'Istituto di sessuologia Clinica di Roma

Telephone counselling for sexual problems: activity and methods of institute of clinical sexology of rome - Introduction: Help-lines have become a common counselling services in Europe, for men and women who are seeking advice for sexual problems. Despite this, relatively few peer-reviewed reports on this subject have been published in the last decade. Aim: To analyze the requests presented by users calling the help-line of Institute of Clinical Sexology of Rome for sexual problems and to describe the objectives and methods of this counselling service. Methods: The study included all the valid records of the calls received during the 3-year period of 2004-2007 (N=944). Results: The users are the 62.2% males vs 37.8% females. Among the calls about male sexual dysfunctions, the most frequently reported difficulties were erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation (42.9% and 36% respectively). Among female sexual dysfunctions, the majority of callers reported difficulties such as vaginismus and low/inhibited desire (35.7% and 24.1% respectively). Medical requests were 14% of the total. A large number of calls for information were also received. The majority of callers (55.8%) had not previously sought consultation for their problem. Conclusion: This kind of counselling is an important and effective resource to elicit requests that otherwise might remain hidden and therefore it can be a useful link between the health-care system and callers. Key words: Help-lines, sexual problems, sexual counselling, counsellor training, crank calls.

Chiara Simonelli, Francesca Tripodi, Valentina Cosmi, Valeria Ricci, Donata Lembo, Consulenza telefonica per problematiche sessuali: attività e metodi dell'Istituto di sessuologia Clinica di Roma in "RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA" 1/2008, pp 47-67, DOI: