White BP, Abuelezam NA, Dwyer AA, Fontenot HB. A sexual health course for advanced practice registered nurses: Effect on preparedness, comfort, and confidence in delivering comprehensive care.
Nurse Educ Today 2020;
92:104506. [PMID:
32599471 DOI:
10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104506]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Revised: 05/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/14/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Sexual healthcare is a critical component of well-being. Sexual health disparities persist nationally. Nurses and advanced practice nurses are well positioned to provide sexual healthcare to diverse patient populations. However, many nurses do not feel prepared to provide comprehensive care and sexual health curricula vary widely across schools of nursing.
OBJECTIVES
We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a new sexual health course for graduate students in improving nurses' knowledge, preparedness, comfort, and confidence in delivering comprehensive, culturally informed sexual healthcare.
DESIGN
A pre-post-intervention survey study design was utilized to assess course effectiveness.
SETTING
Medium-sized, private university.
PARTICIPANTS
Graduate nursing students enrolled in the course (intervention group, n = 30) were recruited. Graduate students enrolled at the institution but not enrolled in the course served as controls (n = 64).
METHODS
Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to evaluate pre- to post-course changes in knowledge, preparedness, comfort, and confidence in the intervention group and differences between the intervention and control group at baseline.
RESULTS
At baseline, all participants (n = 94) exhibited high objective clinical sexual health knowledge. The intervention group had significantly increased overall preparedness, comfort, and confidence in providing sexual healthcare to diverse patient populations. In particular, participants in the intervention group had statistically significant increases associated with care for marginalized minority populations (sexual minorities, gender minorities, sex workers, and persons with a history of sexual trauma).
CONCLUSIONS
The graduate-level course on sexual health and sexual health disparities effectively increased perceived preparedness, comfort, and confidence in delivering comprehensive and culturally informed care to diverse populations. Nursing programs should evaluate their curricula to determine whether graduates are optimally prepared.
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