Assessing student nurses' learning needs for addressing patients' sexual health concerns in Taiwan

Background: Patients' health status may involve sexual issues and nursing education must prepare nurses to address patients' sexual health concerns. In Taiwan, nursing school curricula rarely include programs related to patients' sexuality or sexual health issues, and reflect conservative Asian attitudes toward sexuality. Objectives: Our aims were to determine Taiwanese student nurses' learning needs relative to addressing patients' sexual health concerns, and to gather information for curriculum development in sexual health education. Design: Descriptive, correlational study. Setting: Nursing school at a medical university in central Taiwan. Participants: 140 senior student nurses. Methods: A 24-item instrument entitled "Learning Needs for Addressing Patients' Sexual Health Concerns" (LNAPSHC) was developed through 15 semi-structured interviews of senior nursing students, expert review, and comparative analysis of text and field notes. Content validity and reliability were evaluated using exploratory factor analysis to measure construct validity and Cronbach's alpha to measure internal consistency. Univariate and multivariate linear models were developed. Results: Age, gender, and religion were not significant influences. Expressed learning needs included sexuality in health and illness, communication about patients' intimate relationships, and approaches to sexual health care. "Obtaining a comprehensive sexual health history" was the highest learning need. "Having sexual consultations with patients without embarrassment" was lower. Most participants recognized their role in sexuality-related health care, but their preparation and willingness to address it were limited. Conclusions: Our results indicated a gap between student nurses' positive perspectives on the role of nursing in sexual health care and their limited intention to provide it. Reported learning needs indicated that student nurses needed an effective curriculum to increase their ability and willingness to address patients' sexual health. Our results may help nursing educators develop curricula and clinical training to increase student nurses' competence in addressing patients' sexual health concerns.