OT Sex Talk: Clinician Practices for Inclusive, Sex-Positive Communication about Sexual Health between the Client and the OT Practitioner, Hosted by the West District 

Thursday, August 31, 2023, 5:30-6:30PM CDT

 Virtual Meeting via Zoom and Aspire OT, this webinar is being offered as part of our partnership with Aspire OT

 Register HERE!

About This Course: Sex and managing one’s intimate relationships are acts of daily living. Too often, occupational therapists believe that sexual function is not as important as the disease or condition that brought the client to the rehabilitation team or other non-sexual symptoms. There is a need for practical, culturally responsive strategies to improve client sexual disclosures and candid communication about sexual health and wellness between clients, their intimate/romantic partners, care workers, and OT practitioners. This presentation will heighten clinicians’ awareness of multilevel barriers to optimal client-practitioner communication about sex and intimacy and provide theory-based strategies to aid practitioners in supporting their clients’ sexual health management.

Course Objectives:

1. Discuss the ways in which systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, heterosexism) within the U.S. healthcare system create barriers to communication about sexual health and achievement of sexual wellness, especially for clients from marginalized communities.
2. Describe the physical, cognitive, and emotional aspects of sexual identity.
3. Describe how clients’ sexual self-schemas may impact sexual dysfunction and communication efficacy.
4. Examine client- and practitioner-centered challenges to communication about sex and sexuality.
5. Incorporate strategies to mitigate client-practitioner sexual communication barriers and achieve optimal sexual communication for diverse client populations.

Presenter: Janeane N. Anderson, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Population Health in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, TN. Dr. Anderson completed postdoctoral research fellowships in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and the College of Medicine at UTHSC. She earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in health communication from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.Dr. Anderson’s research targets the relationship between patient-clinician communication practices and clinical and quality of life outcomes among Black adults and adolescents. She studies the ways in which patients and clinicians share power and responsibility to achieve patient health goals in sexual health and chronic disease management. Extramural funding from the National Cancer Institute has supported studies that explore patient-clinician communication, treatment adherence, and sexual health challenges among Black and sexual minority women with early-stage breast cancer. She has received recent funding from the Washington DC Center for AIDS Research to develop a shared decision-making tool to facilitate pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) initiation for Black sexual minority men and from the Tennessee Department of Health to train clinicians in optimal communication practices for PrEP uptake. Dr. Anderson’s professional activities also include developing faculty resources and university-level programming to address diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and objectives. Some of her more recent efforts include developing pedagogical resources for UTHSC faculty to implement inclusive learning strategies in clinical learning environments and conducting professional communication workshops for College of Nursing and College of Medicine faculty to improve critical consciousness and communication with diverse students, patients, and community members. Dr. Anderson is frequently invited to give lectures on race, racism and other sensitive and socially relevant topics within U.S. healthcare contexts for national and international organizations, including the International Urogynecological Association, International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

CEU Opportunity: 1 CEU certificate = FREE for TNOTA members, $20 for non-members