The Beliefs of Mental Health Professionals About the Sexuality of People with Mental Disorders

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18316/sdh.v9i3.7754

Keywords:

Sexuality, Mental Health, Mental Disorders

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the beliefs of professionals with higher education degrees who work with mental health, about the sexuality of people with severe mental disorders.

Materials and Methods: Fifty-nine professionals participated in this quantitative survey, carried out from the application of questionnaires and psychometric scales through an online platform. Descriptive statistics, t-tests and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were carried out.

Results and discussion: Professionals who have been working with mental health for longer expressed more negative beliefs about the sexuality of people with mental disorders. It is believed that these professionals who experienced the hospital-centered model, still have in their beliefs remnants of what they saw in psychiatric hospitals. The violence and violations of rights that people lived in asylums provoked the expression of sexuality as something aggressive, uncontrolled and pathological. No significant correlations were observed between sexual conservatism and prejudice against sexual and gender diversity, and the beliefs about how people with severe disorders experience sexuality or about how society judges the sexual dimension of this population.

Conclusion: This scenario points to the need to invest in permanent education in the context of social work, to address the challenges related to sexuality.

Author Biographies

Jamille Maria de Araujo Figueiredo, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Doutoranda e mestre em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS). Especialista com Residência Multiprofissional em Saúde Coletiva pela Universidade Tiradentes (UNIT). Graduada em Psicologia na Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB).

Elder Cerqueira-Santos, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Pós-Doutorado pela University of Toronto (Canada), Doutor em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul / University of Nebraska - USA (2008) e Mestre em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (2004). Possui graduação em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal de Sergipe (2000). Consultor da Childhood Foundation (WCF). Professor do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da Universidade Federal de Sergipe e colaborador do PPG Psicologia da Universidade de Fortaleza.

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Published

2021-11-08

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2021)

Section

Artigos Originais

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