Women, Hepatitis C, and sexuality: a critical feminist exploration

Sexuality is a neglected subject in nursing with nurses often exhibiting erotophobia. Furthermore Hepatitis C is a stigmatised disease and people living with HCV frequently experience stigmatisation by health professionals, including nurses. Erotophobia and HCV related stigmatisation is detrimental to the formation of an open and trusting nurse-client relationship and is potentially injurious to the health and well being of people living with HCV who come into contact with nurses in the course of their illness. This research explored the question of whether living with HCV affected the sexuality of HCV positive women and if so in what ways?