Attitudes towards the sexuality of older adults: a comparison between health and social care professionals and people aged 65 years and over

Civiriain-San Miguel, Leticia ; Suarez-Serrano, Carmen ; Usón-Lucea, Sonia ; Meléndez-Oliva, Erika ; Sánchez-Romero, Eleuterio A. ; Cuenca-Zaldívar, Juan Nicolás ; Marcén-Román, Yolanda (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Background
Sexuality in older adults usually remains within the sphere of personal intimacy and rarely receives specific attention. Health and social care sectors play a key role in creating safe environments that facilitate its expression. Professionals’ attitudes influence the quality of care, while older people’s attitudes condition their experience of sexuality. This study aimed to compare attitudes towards sexuality in later life between health and social care professionals and people aged 65 years and over, as well as to analyse factors associated with attitudes among professionals.

Methods
A cross-sectional study (May 2022–December 2023) was conducted in Aragón (Spain), including 370 participants in the retired group and 333 in the socio-sanitary worker group. The Attitudes towards Sexuality in Old Age Questionnaire (CASV-14) and a sociodemographic questionnaire were administered. Descriptive analyses of CASV-14 scores were performed in both groups. In the socio-sanitary worker group, internal consistency, floor and ceiling effects, minimal detectable change, and regression models were analysed to explore predictors of attitudes.

Results
The retired group showed higher total CASV-14 scores than the socio-sanitary worker group (31.35 ± 7.30 vs. 27.19 ± 5.78; p 0.001), suggesting a greater presence of myths and limiting perceptions regarding sexuality in later life. Items related to chronic illness, medical treatments, and physiological changes were perceived as more limiting in both groups. The CASV-14 showed high internal consistency for the total score among socio-sanitary workers (Cronbach’s α = 0.888), with lower reliability in the rights and limitations dimension (α = 0.624). Multivariable analyses indicated that being a socio-sanitary professional and having a university education were associated with lower CASV-14 scores, whereas religious beliefs were associated with higher scores. However, the proportion of variance explained by the models was low. 

Conclusions
Both the retired group and the socio-sanitary worker group showed generally favourable attitudes towards sexuality in later life, although the retired group reported more limiting perceptions. These findings highlight the importance of addressing sexuality as a key component of well-being in later life and support the need for educational initiatives aimed at reducing myths and strengthening professionals’ capacity to address sexual health in ageing populations.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1007/s10389-026-02798-w

Año: 2026

Publicado en: Journal of public health (Berlin) (2026), [12 pp.]
ISSN: 2198-1833

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Area Anatom.Embriol.Humana (Dpto. Anatom.Histolog.Humanas)