Abstract
Intimacy and sexual expression are often ignored and silenced in long-term care, failing to respect and protect the sexual health needs of older adults. Residents are often perceived as ‘too old’ to be sexually active due to the dominant youthful image ingrained in Western societies and media. As a result, people living in skilled nursing care experience a lack of intimate relationships, unable to explore their self-autonomy and sexuality. In addition, the acceptance of intimacy in an organizational work environment of a care facility depends on staffs attitudes, knowledge and policy guidelines. The multiple barriers to intimacy in long-term care create a sensitive environment to conduct research in. Hence this research will employ Participatory Design approaches to elicit insights into how intimacy and sexuality are experienced, discussed and expressed among residents and care professionals. The study aims to translate sensitive knowledge about intimacy and sexuality in long-term care facilities into innovative practices. Outcomes will result in tools or service approaches that can contribute to the delivery of holistic and Person-Centred-Care practices that focus on people’s individual care needs, encourages autonomy and self-confidence.
Keywords
Design, newnorms, identities, genderstereotypes, lifechangingdesign
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.673
Citation
Lefévre, Y.M.(2023) Longing for: Exploring intimacy and sexual expression in long-term care through Participatory Design approaches, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.673
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
doctoralpapers
Included in
Longing for: Exploring intimacy and sexual expression in long-term care through Participatory Design approaches
Intimacy and sexual expression are often ignored and silenced in long-term care, failing to respect and protect the sexual health needs of older adults. Residents are often perceived as ‘too old’ to be sexually active due to the dominant youthful image ingrained in Western societies and media. As a result, people living in skilled nursing care experience a lack of intimate relationships, unable to explore their self-autonomy and sexuality. In addition, the acceptance of intimacy in an organizational work environment of a care facility depends on staffs attitudes, knowledge and policy guidelines. The multiple barriers to intimacy in long-term care create a sensitive environment to conduct research in. Hence this research will employ Participatory Design approaches to elicit insights into how intimacy and sexuality are experienced, discussed and expressed among residents and care professionals. The study aims to translate sensitive knowledge about intimacy and sexuality in long-term care facilities into innovative practices. Outcomes will result in tools or service approaches that can contribute to the delivery of holistic and Person-Centred-Care practices that focus on people’s individual care needs, encourages autonomy and self-confidence.