The family practice resident as sexual counselor

Little research has been done on family practice residents and their sexual counseling attitudes, knowledge, and abilities. This study sought answers to five broad questions about family practice residents' perceptions of sexual counseling. Subjects were 132 residents and 21 faculty members from eight family practice training units in Minnesota, which were affiliated with the University of Minnesota. Residents regard sexual counseling as important and say they desire more training to deal with sexual problems encountered in family practice. They tend to raise the subject of sex with patients not routinely but only if there appears to be a psychosocial problem. Respondents indicate a lack of ability as well as discomfort with several areas of sexuality, notably frigidity and homosexuality. Family practice residents need to develop their skills in specific areas of sexual counseling. While these findings are most applicable to the eight units involved, the diversity in respondents' backgrounds and differences between units suggest that the results may be relevant to other residency programs.