Commentary on Kong SKF, Wu LH & Loke AY (2009) Nursing students' knowledge, attitude and readiness to work for clients with sexual health concerns Journal of Clinical Nursing 18, 2372-2382

摘要

The paper by Kong et al. (2009) is a welcome addition to the literature on nurses’ attitudes to sexual health and one that expands our understanding by providing a Chinese dimension to the literature on this topic – which is so often seen only from a Western perspective. However, the paper certainly reflects the Western literature by demonstrating that client sexuality is a problematic area for nurses, reinforcing that this is an ethically and attitudinally difficult aspect of practice (Hayter 1996, 1997). It also adds to other literature from Asia indicating that nurses often find intimate aspects of care difficult (Zang et al. 2008, 2009). The article reports some interesting contrasts between knowledge and attitudes, and it was refreshing to see relatively high levels of sexual health knowledge from the respondents, although it would have been helpful to know what elements of sexual health were included in their training.