This summer, an international group of clinicians and researchers met in Washington, D.C., for a first-of-its-kind symposium devoted to cancer survivorship and sexual health. Higher-than-anticipated attendance among physicians, mental health providers and other professionals attests to growing recognition of the sexual health needs of cancer survivors.
If I could summarize one theme from this conference, it was a focus on ways to make sexual health services more readily available to our patients.
As cancer survivors become a larger segment of the population, the need for comprehensive survivorship care will only grow.
Specialized care team
Some of the presentations at the meeting described how hospitals and cancer centers created specialized care teams for sexual health problems.
Typically, these teams are partnerships between medical and mental health providers with interests and training in sexuality.
For example, a group of researchers in Sweden found that prostate cancer patients had much better sexual outcomes after a sex therapist was added to their team of medical and surgical staff. Other presentations from researchers in North America, Africa, Australia, Europe and the Middle East echoed the need for a team effort.
Continue reading Cancer Survivorship and Sexual Health: Now More Than Ever.
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