Staff Perceptions of Same-Gender Sexual Contacts in Long-Term Care Facilities

An ongoing fear in the gay and lesbian community is that long-term care (LTC) facilities may not be sensitive to their needs. In the present study, 218 LTC staff members responded to one of three vignettes in which resident sexual contact was observed, with only the gender of the characters changing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of homosexuality 2010-07, Vol.57 (6), p.776-789
Main Authors: Hinrichs, Kate L. M., Vacha-Haase, Tammi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aging - physiology
Allied Health Personnel - psychology
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitudes
Female
Gays & lesbians
Heterosexuality
Homophobia
Homosexuality
Humans
Knowledge
Long Term Care
Long term health care
long-term care (LTC)
Male
Medical personnel
Middle Aged
nursing home
older gay men and lesbian women
Perceptions
same-gender sexual contact
Sex
Sexual Behavior
Sexuality
Studies
Young Adult
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Summary:An ongoing fear in the gay and lesbian community is that long-term care (LTC) facilities may not be sensitive to their needs. In the present study, 218 LTC staff members responded to one of three vignettes in which resident sexual contact was observed, with only the gender of the characters changing, to create different gender pairings. Results suggested that staff rated male-male and female-female pairings more negatively than heterosexual intimacy. Knowledge about older adult sexuality made little difference in staff ratings. However, staff attitudes were directly related to ratings of negative reaction and level of acceptability of same-gender sexuality.
ISSN:0091-8369
1540-3602
DOI:10.1080/00918369.2010.485877