Medical Counseling on Sexual Enrichment Aids: Women's Preferences and Medical Practitioner Expertise.

Abstract

To investigate women's preferences and experiences regarding health counseling of safe sexual enrichment aid use and hygiene and current counseling behaviors of medical practitioners on this topic. This study used mixed methodology, leveraging quantitative data from a cross-sectional survey of 800 women and semi-structured qualitative interview data from 24 women across sexual practice groups. Additionally, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 192 medical practitioners to understand current counseling behaviors and attitudes. The majority of women (96.2%, 607/631) had never been counseled by a practitioner on safe sexual enrichment aid use and hygiene but would feel comfortable receiving counseling on the subject under certain circumstances. Overwhelmingly, women indicated the need for a nonjudgmental practitioner. Many cited the importance of having a female practitioner and preferred one within obstetrics and gynecology. Among medical practitioners, counseling on this topic was infrequent; 27.0% (52/192) stated that they counsel patients on safe sexual enrichment aid use and hygiene when discussing safe sex, and 21.4% (41/192) reported that this topic is included when counseling women after a sexually transmitted infection diagnosis. Only 7.4% (14/188) and 6.4% (12/188) had received training on this topic or were aware of any professional guidelines or recommendations, respectively. Evidence-based guidelines should be developed that practitioners can use to counsel patients, ensuring that women are able to engage in sexual enrichment aid use safely.