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Egyptian Journal of Psychiatry
Egyptian Society of Psychiatry
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Volume: |
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| Abstract: |
Background
Routine sexual history taking is an important component of psychiatric case
formulation, and while sexual health problems are common, they are often left
underdiagnosed in clinical practice. This study aimed to identify Egyptian mental
health professionals’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward sexual medicine and
psychosexual history taking. In this cross-sectional online survey study, 242 mental
health professionals (160 psychiatrists and 82 psychologists) currently practicing in
Egypt completed the survey.
Results
About 98.3% of surveyed professionals were in agreement that collecting sexual
history is vital to efficient clinical assessments. However, nearly half the participants
believed that they lacked sufficient knowledge (51.7%) or clinical experience (50%)
in psychosexual health matters, and one-third (34.7%) did not believe that they are
confident in managing such problems. More than half (56.4%) do not routinely
initiate taking sexual history, and about one-fifth (20.6%) were not comfortable
initiating such questions. Common barriers included inadequate education and
training (49.2%), irrelevance to patient’s chief complaint (39.7%), limited time (38%)
and privacy (34.7%), worry of offending the patient (28.5%), feeling of awkwardness
(27.3%), lack of confidence (24%), and to a lesser extent, poor rapport (15.3%) and
fear of being judged by the patients (10.3%).
Conclusion
Egyptian mental health professionals do not routinely discuss sexual health issues
with their patients, despite understanding its importance, due to multiple social,
educational, and personal barriers. Perceived lack of knowledge, limited clinical
experience, personal difficulties, and social constraints are considered the main
barriers.
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