Table 2.
The barriers to bringing up sexual health issues during appointments (total n = 402).
| Shortness of the appointment time |
Sexual health issues not being a priority in the appointment |
Personal attitudes and beliefs |
Personal discomfort when addressing sexual health issues |
Lack of knowledge about sexual medicine |
Lack of experience with sexual medicine |
Lack of effective treatment |
Fear of failing to respond to patients' sexual healthissues |
Gender differences (where the patient represents the opposite gender) |
Disability of the patient |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Much or very much 85.6% (n = 344/397) |
Much or very much 80.4% (n = 323/389) |
Much or very much 17.2% (n = 69/387) |
Much or very much 17.4% (n = 70/396) |
Much or very much 83.6% (n = 336/391) |
Much or very much 81.8% (n = 329/396) |
Much or very much 54.7% (n = 220/374) |
Much or very much 46.8% (n = 188/389) |
Much or very much 21.1% (n = 85/383) |
Much or very much 21.1% (n = 85/375) |
|||||||||||
| Entire group | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI | OR | 95%CI |
| Gender | p = .110 | p = .091 | p= .059 | p = .150 | p = .167 | p = .068 | p < .001 | p < .001 | p = .034 | p = .161 | ||||||||||
| women versus men | 1.68 | 0.89–3.19 | 1.67 | 0.92–3.01 | 1.96 | 0.97–3.95 | 1.61 | 0.84–3.06 | 1.60 | 0.82–3.09 | 1.76 | 0.96–3.23 | 2.32 | 1.43–3.76 | 2.36 | 1.45–3.85 | 0.56 | 0.33–0.96 | 1.55 | 0.84–2.86 |
| Age | p = .139 | p = .095 | p = .044 | p = .823 | p = .986 | p = .043 | p = .428 | p = .917 | p = .457 | p = .041 | ||||||||||
| 40–49 versus 27–39 | 0.52 | 0.24–1.14 | 0.58 | 0.29–1.18 | 2.33 | 1.18–4.60 | 1.18 | 0.61–2.29 | 0.95 | 0.46–1.96 | 0.51 | 0.25–1.04 | 1.42 | 0.83–2.42 | 0.99 | 0.59–1.65 | 1.48 | 0.80–2.77 | 1.04 | 0.54–2.00 |
| 50–65 versus 27–39 | 0.50 | 0.24–1.03 | 0.49 | 0.25–0.94 | 1.87 | 0.96–3.63 | 0.97 | 0.52–1.80 | 1.02 | 0.50–2.05 | 0.43 | 0.22–0.85 | 1.08 | 0.66–1.77 | 1.09 | 0.67–1.76 | 1.26 | 0.70–2.26 | 1.93 | 1.09–3.43 |
| 40–49 versus 50–65 | 1.06 | 0.53–2.12 | 1.19 | 0.63–2.28 | 1.25 | 0.67–2.32 | 1.22 | 0.63–2.37 | 0.94 | 0.45–1.97 | 1.19 | 0.62–2.28 | 1.31 | 0.76–2.26 | 0.91 | 0.54–1.53 | 1.18 | 0.64–2.16 | 0.54 | 0.29–0.99 |
| Patients with | ||||||||||||||||||||
| sexual health issues weekly | p = .035 | p = .375 | p = 1.000 | p = .018 | p < .001 | p < .001 | p = .768 | p = .026 | p = .047 | p = .520 | ||||||||||
| 0 versus 1–5 | 0.41 | 0.21–0.80 | 1.18 | 0.57–2.45 | 1.01 | 0.51–2.02 | 1.56 | 0.84–2.87 | 2.01 | 0.75–5.36 | 3.01 | 1.14–7.96 | 0.86 | 0.49–1.52 | 1.21 | 0.71–2.07 | 1.20 | 0.66–2.19 | 0.80 | 0.40–1.58 |
| 0 versus ≥ 6 | 0.58 | 0.23–1.48 | 1.84 | 0.74–4.57 | 1.01 | 0.41–2.52 | 5.27 | 1.66–16.72 | 6.69 | 2.26–19.77 | 8.21 | 2.77–24.33 | 1.04 | 0.49–2.19 | 2.58 | 1.24–5.36 | 3.73 | 1.29–10.80 | 0.61 | 0.26–1.43 |
| 1–5 versus ≥ 6 | 1.41 | 0.60–3.34 | 1.55 | 0.76–3.19 | 1.00 | 0.47–2.12 | 3.39 | 1.16–9.89 | 3.33 | 1.68–6.63 | 2.73 | 1.40–5.31 | 1.20 | 0.66–2.20 | 2.13 | 1.16–3.91 | 3.10 | 1.17–8.18 | 0.76 | 0.39–1.48 |
The responses ‘cannot say’ omitted from the analyses.
OR higher than 1 indicates higher barriers (two categories: much or very much versus some or not at all) to bringing up sexual health issues during appointments.
OR less than 1 indicates lower barriers to bringing up sexual health issues during appointments.
OR: odds ratio; multivariable logistic regression; CI: confidence interval