Aging and Sexual Health


One of the key takeaways for me is the importance of educating clients-especially our older adult clients- on the differences between male and female sexual response. For example, most males often start with desire and then arousal follows. On the flip side, women tend to start the process with arousal and then desire follows. This should be discussed with older adult clients because the man may be waiting for the woman to desire sex before engaging when it may take initiating sex before the woman feels desire. Another takeaway for me is informing older adults that they can still express their sexuality, have sexual encounters, and get an orgasm in other ways besides just penetrative vaginal sex. This type of physical intimacy may become more and more challenging as a client ages in their older adult years, so educating them on other ways to get an orgasm and have physical intimacy is extremely important, especially because staying sexually active has many health benefits for the older adult population. Some other ways to stay sexually active could include physical stimulation to sensitive areas (such as the penis or clitoris) or oral sex.


Interventions: For an individual client's session, I could use cognitive behavioral therapy to help with negative thought stopping that could be damaging to their sex life. For example, a woman may be fixating on negative thoughts regarding her body image during sexual activity which could be impacting her sexual performance. In a group therapy setting, you could hold an in-service at a Senior Citizen's Center regarding energy conservation techniques, activity pacing, and adaptive equipment. For example, regarding activity pacing, you could educate older adults on how taking turns for shorter periods of time during sexual intimacy can help prevent or slow down fatigue during the activity. You can also educate on how there is adaptive equipment that can be used such as a penis sleeve which can benefit clients with arthritis during manual stimulation. An additional patient education piece could include use of modalities such as heat to minimize pain in joints or muscles when used as a preparatory activity for sexual intimacy.

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