ALTERNATE METHODS OF CHANGING NURSING HOME STAFF ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE AGED.
Contributors: College of William and Mary.
Published: 1982
Number of pages: 181
Subjects: Education, Educational Psychology.
Description: In recent years workshops have been developed to assist professionals in dealing with issues related to human sexuality. Called Sexual Attitude Reassessment workshops (SAR's), they are designed to impart relevant information concerning sex functioning and to provide an opportunity for personal exploration of attitudes and values. While much attention has been directed at providing sex education to a variety of groups across the country, few programs have focused on improving attitudes toward sexual expression in the aged, and increasing understanding of their sexual needs.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not nursing home staff differed in their perceptions, attitudes and knowledge as a result of exposure to either implicit or explicit sex related materials. Participation in the two experimental SAR's (implicit or explicit) was voluntary and open to all nursing home staff at a downtown Norfolk nursing home. Of the 45 staff who applied for the workshop, 32 attended the two-day training. Workshop participants ranged in age from 18 to 62, and represented a variety of educational backgrounds.

The research design used was the posttest only control group design. The study design first divided nursing home staff into two groups. Group assignment was based upon scores obtained on Rokeach's (1960) Dogmatism scale. Subjects who scored above or below the dogmatism scale mean were assigned to either a high dogmatism or low dogmatism group, respectively. Staff in the high dogmatism and low dogmatism groups were then randomly assigned to three treatments: implicit, explicit, and control.

The format used for both the implicit and explicit workshops was similar to that of the Sexual Attitude Reassessment (SAR) process developed by the National Sex Forum. For the implicit group participants were exposed to sexually implicit materials (usually films) and encouraged to react to these materials in small groups. Implicit materials were defined as those films and slides which did not graphically depict sexual behavior of "live" actors. Except for the film materials, the explicit group was conducted in exactly the same way. Participants were exposed to sexually explicit materials (usually films) and encouraged to react to these materials in small groups. Explicit materials were defined as those films and slides which graphically depict the sexual behavior of "live" actors. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: A, page: 3302.

Thesis (ED.D.)--THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, 1982.

School code: 0261.