The majority of my blog posts focus on how I infuse my
professional passion for counseling and sexual health in my personal experience
as a parent. Today I shift gears, and I give you a glimpse of some of the work
I am doing with older adults on the topic of sexual health.
In 2007, I embarked on a career that would forever change my
life. I began working with older adults in low income housing. My work focused
on case management, advocacy, increasing self-sufficiency, and reducing early
institutionalization (long term nursing care) of older adults. It was love at
first sight! How did I not know how incredibly amazing our older adult generation
was until now? Working with older adults was the best decision I ever made. I
learned older adults are vibrant, energetic, empowered to learn, and full of
wisdom. I wanted to fuse my passion for working with adults throughout my
career with my practicum placement at Turner Professional Group, therefor I
created a graduate project around these two themes.
Throughout this past year I have developed a
psycho-educational group entitled, Sexuality and Aging. It’s like Sex Ed 101
for adults 65+. The intent of this assignment was twofold. The first was to empower
older adults to start a conversation, and begin communicating thoughts and
concerns about sexuality in a safe environment. The second was to provide
educational information on sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and AIDS. It
wasn’t easy convincing people to let me, a student, come in and discuss the
issue of sexuality and aging. I found a fair amount of resistance, further
convincing me that SEX is a dirty word (but shouldn’t be!) and the idea that
older adults don’t need to learn about sexuality (but they do!). So, after
begging and pleading to some extent, I managed to get my program out into the
community through a few trusted colleagues. Together we learned that those in
attendance really enjoyed talking about sexuality! With my sex positive
attitude, I managed bring comprehensive sex ed to three housing communities for
older adults.
Where did I begin you ask? A simple Google search brought me
to two very important issues. As I began my research I was quickly thrilled to
learn that older adults are still getting jiggy with it! Surveys by AARP and
the CDC found that older adults continue to have fulfilling sex lives well into
their advanced age! With (and often without) medical intervention and simple
accommodations to our changing physiology we can engage and maintain a healthy
sex life, almost indefinitely. This lead to equally intriguing research in the
incredible spread of sexually transmitted infections with this population.
So…from these two fun factoids I gave birth to a brief one hour
psycho-education presentation on SEXUALITY and AGING!
I was over the moon when I walked into my first presentation
and we had to bring in more chairs! I was particularly excited to have men
enter the equation on my second presentation, and boy did they challenge me!
Barking up and down my tree tell me a thing or two about sexuality. What is so
incredible about working in the community is that you get the thrill of never
know who your audience will be. I had a few very highly educated feminists,
members of the LGBTQ community, and ultra conservatives, all from a variety of
different cultures. Most of these folks came from a generation that did not
receive comprehensive sex education and from an era where you didn’t discuss
sex. Our society has created a sex-crazed culture, yet a critically silent
approach on sex education. We don’t know what we don’t learn…IT’S A CONUNDRUM!
A large part of the presentation with this population was to
break the silence. To empower adults to take their sexuality by the reigns and
engage in it. So many of our older adults are already isolated, and silence
contributes to AGEISM. Ponrat Pakpreo, the author of Medical Evaluation: Why we take a sex history, discloses low rates
of sexual health assessment by physicians and other health care professionals.
A variety of barriers are admittedly shared by physicals including: time
constraints, underestimation of patient risk, lack of information, and
embarrassment. These barriers prevent some clinicians from conducting sexual
assessments (Pakpreo, 2013). I found this to be true in each of the
presentations I gave with older adults. In a nonscientific experiment (show of
hands), the majority shared that their primary physician doesn’t asses their
sexual health. They admittedly agreed that they too as patients don’t disclose to
or ask questions about their sexual needs with their primary care physicians. Empowering
older adults to be their own advocate with their doctors was a crucial message
to share.
Building new perspectives on tolerance and respect to gender
roles and stereotypes in this population was also an important message. We dove into all the circles of
sexuality…intimacy, sensuality, sexual health/reproduction, sexualization, and
sexual identity (Dailey, 1981). With age, many of these can vary with
intensity, however they continue to exist. My favorite part of these talks was
hearing the love stories they had to share. Loving and losing was a theme that
was shared each and every class. I encourage all of those reading this to
engage with a parent, grandparent, or older adult about their love story. Their
wisdom is worth its weight in gold.
Informing facts of STI/HIV…
The presentation sought to inform adults 55+ that they are a
high at-risk group for sexuality transmitted infections as well as HIV/AIDS. Data
from the Centers for Disease Control state that this age is just as at-risk as
young Americans. Older adults ages 55+ make up 19% of the populations living
with HIV (Centers for Disease Control, 2013). In addition, sexually transmitted
infections (STI’s) are on the rise in adults age 50 and over, 50% in fact
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013).
We know that adults 80+ years are sexually active and we
know sexually transmitted infections are on the rise! What is happening? I will
tell you what’s happening…the baby boomers and beyond are physically active,
sexually spirited, and bursting at the seams! Truth: less than 1/3 of the surveyed adults used a condom during their
most recent sexual encounter (Schick et al. 2010). We are talking about 80%
of sexually active older adults not using protection! Many older adults believe
the myth that they are exempt from STI’s is wreaking havoc and must be stopped!
A fantastic PSA from safersex4seniors.org, provides a very impactful message to
free spirited sexually active older adults. See full PSA at this link: https://youtu.be/1Pfa07ijUCE.
What I learned…
It was refreshing that I was able to connect current
research that tells us that older adults are sexually active, with a unanimous
response from my classes that they are also very excited to talk about sex. We
are breaking the silence and addressing concerns and issues related to
sexuality and answering the health questions and providing resources in order
for older adults to get them help them need.
I am happy to report to all my dear readers that despite
your age, size, and physical ability, a person’s need for affection, desire,
and pleasure extends well into advanced age…to our last breath really. There
are hundreds of ways to engage in sex…please remember to increase your safety
by using a condom! For help or assistance in safe contraception please contact
your doctor or wellness provider.
Special thank you to Phoenix Family (www.phoenixfamily.org) for their continued
support of my work with older adults and allowing me the privilege and trust to
present Sexuality and Aging to the following communities: Landmark Towers,
Nowlin Hall, and Cathedral Square Towers.
Citations:
Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services; 2013.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Factsheet: HIV among older adults November
2013. Retrieved at www.cdc.gov/hiv
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2012.
Dailey, D.M. (1981). Sexual expression
and aging in F.J. Berghorn & D.E. Schafer (Eds.). The dynamics of
aging: Original essays
on the process and
experiences of growing old (pp.
311-330. Boulder, CO; Westview Press.
Fortenberry, J. D. (2010), Sexual
Behaviors, Condom Use, and Sexual Health of Americans Over 50: Implications for
Sexual
Health Promotion for Older
Adults. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7: 315–329. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02013.x
Pakpreo, P. (2013, October 1). Medical
Education: Why do we take a sex history? Retrieved
November 10, 2014, from
http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2005/10/pdf/medu1-0510.pdf
Schick, V., Herbenick, D., Reece, M., Sanders, S. A., Dodge, B., Middlestadt, S. E. and
Schick, V., Herbenick, D., Reece, M., Sanders, S. A., Dodge, B., Middlestadt, S. E. and
