@article{TAU2923,
author = {Seng Fah Tong and Wah Yun Low and Shaiful Bahari Ismail and Lyndal Trevena and Simon Wilcock},
title = {Determinants of doctors’ decisions to inquire about sexual dysfunction in Malaysian primary care settings},
journal = {Translational Andrology and Urology},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
year = {2013},
keywords = {},
abstract = {Background: Perceptions of how receptive men are to sexual health inquiry may affect Malaysian primary care doctors’ decisions to initiate such a discussion with their male patients. This paper quantifies the impact of doctors’ perceptions of men’s receptivity on male sexual health inquiry. Sexual health inquiry is one of the five areas in a study on determinants of offering preventive health checks to Malaysian men.
Design and methods: This was a cross sectional survey among primary care doctors in Malaysia. The questionnaire was based on an empirical model defining the determinants of primary care doctors’ intention to offer health checks. The questionnaire measured: (I) perceived receptivity of male patients to sexual health inquiry; (II) doctors’ attitudes towards the importance of sexual health inquiries; (III) perceived competence and, (IV) perceived external barriers. The outcome variable was doctors’ intention in asking about sexual dysfunction in three different contexts (minor complaints visits, follow-up visits and health checks visits). All items were measured on the Likert scale of 1 to 5 (strongly disagree/unlikely to strongly agree/likely) and internally validated.
Results: 198 doctors participated (response rate 70.4%). Female primary care doctors constituted 54.5%. 78% of respondents were unlikely to ask about sexual dysfunction in visits for minor complaints to their male patients, 43.6% in follow up visits and 28.2% in health checks visits. In ordinal regression analysis, positive perception of men’s receptivity to sexual health inquiry significantly predicted the doctors’ intention in asking sexual dysfunction in all three contexts; i.e., minor complaints visits (P=0.013), follow-up visits (P},
issn = {2223-4691}, url = {https://tau.amegroups.org/article/view/2923}
}