Room 520-A | Sexuality and Health Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Time: 8:30 AM-10:30 AM |
The Women's Sexual Health Foundation.
Martinez, Lisa*,1, Whipple, Beverly2, 2, 1 The Women's Sexual Health Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA2 The State University of New Jersey, Medford, New Jersey, USA
ABSTRACT- Introduction The Women's Sexual Health Foundation (TWSHF), a non-profit international foundation, founded in 2003, is the only foundation of its kind in the world to our knowledge. The Foundation functions completely with the support of volunteers. Main Body Research shows that 43% of women in the United States will be impacted by sexual disorders some time in their lives and a total of 24.4% of women report marked distress about their sexual relationship and/or their own sexuality. In Australia, from early to late menopausal transition, the percentage of women with scores indicating sexual disorders increased from 42% to 88%. In another study from Great Britain, 53.8% of women who had at least one heterosexual partner in the previous year reported at least one sexual problem lasting at least one month. Furthermore, persistent sexual problems, which were defined as lasting at least six months, occurred 15.6%. Based on comments received at TWSHF, it became apparent that the lay public and healthcare professionals were struggling to find accurate information pertaining to women's sexual health problems. In particular, this was true for medical conditions impacting sexual function such as hysterectomy with or without bilateral oophorectomy, diabetes, pelvic pain, medications such as SSRIs, and other conditions. The main mission of TWSHF is to be an educational resource to the public and healthcare professionals. With the assistance of an international advisory board, who also volunteer their time, very complex scientific information is summarized so that visitors to the Foundation's website at www.TWSHF.org, can have a better understanding of how women's health may be impacted by various medical and psychosocial conditions. The website features educational brochures, the Women's Sexual Health Journal, a tutorial on how to search for healthcare information specific to female sexual health difficulties, support groups, literature and books for professionals and the public, and information on seminars. TWSHF also works with medical schools to develop and present educational seminars that focus on women's sexual difficulties and women's sexual health. Conclusion Most importantly, TWSHF acts as a vehicle to validate women's concerns so that they no longer feel alone in their quest for information.
Key words: female, sexual, health, education, dysfunction