Sexuality and ageing: A mixed methods explorative study of older adult's experiences, attitudes, and support needs.
Amelia Portellos, Claire Lynch, Annette Joosten
PMID 40337326WHAT IT FOUND
Many older adults rated being a sexual person important, defined sexuality through pleasure, relationships and intimacy, and said clinicians rarely raised it.
They asked for open conversations, online resources and age-specific services.
Key findings
01Older adults commonly defined sexuality as pleasure, relationships and sex, and many rated being a sexual person important.
02Married, open or partnered participants reported higher sexual frequency than single, widowed or separated participants, and desired frequency exceeded actual frequency across relationship types.
03Many participants had not had sexuality discussed by healthcare professionals, and wanted clinicians to open dialogue, online resources or age-specific sexual health services.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 75 responses were analysed, which limited the statistics and the generalisability of the findings. Participants were recruited through researcher networks, agencies, social media and community settings, not by population sampling, so most had similar demographic factors. People who chose to take part may have been more open about sexuality than the wider older population. Religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic status were not collected, so their influence could not be examined. The study did not test any intervention or service model, so it cannot show what improves sexual health or wellbeing. Asexual participants did not describe their experiences in the open questions, so this group's views were less represented.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and no financial support for the research, authorship or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude from this survey that older adults generally have low sexual activity or that specific supports improve sexual health. It was a small anonymous survey of people willing to answer questions about sexuality, and it did not test any intervention or service model.