Bridging the Gap of Age and Awkwardness: Improving Geriatric Sex Education

Abstract

Improving geriatric sex education is not a common thought for many Americans, but with a quickly growing population it may soon become a common topic for discussion. Discomfort, awkwardness, and lack of communication often keep health care providers and physicians from discussing sexual health with their elderly patients. These limitations are significantly impairing physicians and health care providers from educating their patients about their sexual health and addressing any concern the patient might have about their sexuality. Sexual health in geriatrics is a growing concern among many health care fields today as the elderly are participating in risky sexual behaviors but are not using safe sex practices. After collecting research from 28 sources, I have concluded that there are many inadequacies that are preventing quality sexual health education for the elderly by examining the history of sex education, discussing the limitations and barriers of adequate sexual health education, and analyzing the training and education methods being used to improve this elderly sexual health education. There are many ways in which improvement for geriatric sexual health education can occur; from enhanced communication to quality training for geriatric health care providers; but in the end the overall change needed will have to come from our society as a whole. The geriatric population is the fastest growing population in today’s society and soon this population will have new needs and concerns that will have to be addressed by us and future generations.