Seeking help for sexual function complaints: what gynecologists need to know about the female patient’s experience

Berman, Laura; Berman, Jennifer; Felder, Stan; Pollets, Dan; Chhabra, Sachin; Miles, Marie; Powell, Jennifer Ann

doi:10.1016/S0015-0282(02)04695-2

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Volume 79, Issue 3 , Pages 572-576, March 2003

Seeking help for sexual function complaints: what gynecologists need to know about the female patient’s experience

Laura Berman, Ph.D.
- Department of Urology and Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Reprint requests: Laura Berman, Ph.D., UCLA Female Sexual Medicine Center, 924 Westwood Boulevard, Suite 515, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA (FAX: 310-794-2490).
Jennifer Berman, M.D.
- Department of Urology and Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
Stan Felder, B.A.
- Network for Excellence in Women’s Sexual Health (NEWSHE), USA
Dan Pollets, Ph.D.
- Department of Urology, Boston University, Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Sachin Chhabra, B.S.
- Department of Urology, Boston University, Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Marie Miles, B.A.
- Department of Urology and Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
Jennifer Ann Powell, B.A.
- Department of Urology and Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA

Received 22 February 2002; received in revised form 12 July 2002; accepted 12 July 2002.

Abstract

Objective

To further explore the patient experience of seeking help for a sexual function complaint.

Design

Survey administered on a Web-based instrument.

Setting

Healthy volunteers visiting an online Website.

Patient(s)

The majority of participants were married (73%), Caucasian (88%), and premenopausal (67%). Most commonly reported sexual complaints included low desire (77%), low arousal (62%), and difficulty achieving orgasm (56%).

Intervention(s)

None.

Main outcome measure(s)

Patient experience survey on a women’s sexual health website.

Result(s)

Although 40% of the women reported that they did not seek help from a physician for sexual function complaints, 54% reported that they would like to. Although only a minority of the women internalized their experience with extremely negative emotions like shame, devaluation, or disgust, the experience was not a particularly emotionally positive one along the lines of relief, optimism, or confidence, and a great deal of frustration and anxiety about treatment was reported.

Conclusion(s)

The extent to which health professionals currently receive exposure to training in human sexuality as well as the way in which female sexual complaints are handled in the medical setting remain ambiguous. The inflow of patients with sexual function complaints only will increase, and it is time for physicians to start to acknowledge women’s sexuality with the same importance their patients do.

Keywords: Female sexual dysfunction, sexual complaints, evaluation, treatment, physician attitudes, patient attitudes, patient experience