Research and Advanced Education
Experience in participating in a project of the Institute of Preventive Medicine
GAPIC Project: General Practitioners’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Barriers in the Management of Sexual Dysfunction
Following an enriching initial experience as a scholar of the Office for the Support of Scientific and Technological Research and Innovation (GAPIC) in a project in Translational Oncology, it became clear that the following year I would apply again for funding of a science project. Given that up to then I had only worked in laboratory research, I came up with the idea of doing a project in Preventive Medicine, a field that I had increasingly become interested in.
I quickly contacted the Institute of Preventive Medicine, where I was made several proposals with regard to possible areas for developing my project, including Hypertension, HIV, and Breastfeeding, all of which I was familiar with as a result of my mandatory training. However, I was particularly attracted to one area that I had not studied before: sexuality. The decision to focus on this topic was obvious, and a few days later I began writing the project, which I titled General Practitioners’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Barriers in the Management of Sexual Dysfunction and which was subsequently approved and funded by GAPIC.
Why this study?
Firstly because sexual dysfunctions are quite prevalent in both sexes (25% to 63% in women and 10% to 52% in men)1, and are a public health problem, often a symptom of other diseases that need to be diagnosed and treated, such as cardiovascular disease.2 Secondly, the fact that international studies indicate that existing barriers in addressing this issue is one of the main reasons why sexual dysfunctions are underdiagnosed, despite most patients finding it appropriate to discuss the matter with their family doctors.3,4 Thirdly, because there is no study in Portugal on this topic. Fourthly, due to the fact that increased knowledge about the way general practitioners deal with sexual disorders on the whole will enable us to identify their training needs, develop new ongoing training programmes and adjust basic training, while simultaneously obtaining a picture of the state of the art in our country.
In order to collect data for this cross-sectional study, a self-completion questionnaire was distributed among a sample of General and Family Medicine (GFM) physicians. The self-completion questionnaire was designed based on available literature and distributed among doctors from the Health Units of ACES (Health Centre Clusters) of Odivelas. The project is currently at the stage of data collection, preparation of the statistical analysis and writing a scientific article.
Participating in this project allowed me to broaden my theoretical knowledge on the topic through constant reading of articles, and to develop skills ranging from drafting the project to the writing of the final article, including designing the questionnaire and a likely article review. In addition, it was with a lot of enthusiasm and support from by tutor that I submitted an abstract to the 20th World Congress for Sexual Health, which will take place in Glasgow this forthcoming June. I recently found out that this abstract was accepted and that I was invited to present a poster, which made me very happy.
I take this opportunity to thank my tutor Dr Violeta Alarcão for her constant support and availability, and GAPIC for its support and encouragement of postgraduate scientific research over the years.
Project Tutors: Professor Alberto Galvão Teles; Co-Tutor: Dr. Violeta Alarcão
Sofia Ribeiro,
student in year 6 of the Integrated Master degree in Medicine
sigmaserena@gmail.com
__________________
Bibliography
1. Laumann, EO, Paik, A, Rosen, RC. Sexual dysfunctions in the United States. Prevalence and Predictors. JAMA. 1999; 281: 537-544.
2. Haro, JM, Beardsworth, A, Casariego, J, et al. Treatment-seeking behavior of Erectile Dysfunction patients in Europe: results of the Erectile Dysfunction Observational Study. J Sex Med 2006; 3: 530–40.
3. EO Laumann; A Nicolosi; DB Glasser; A Paik; C Gingell; E Moreira; T Wang, Sexual Problems Among Women and Men Aged 40–80 y: Prevalence and Correlates Identified in the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, International Journal of Impotence Research (2005), 17: 39:57.
4. Stanley E. Althof, Eric W. Corty, Stephen B. Levine, et al. Edits: Development Of Questionnaires For Evaluating Satisfaction With Treatments For Erectile Dysfunction, Urology 53: 793–799, 1999.
Following an enriching initial experience as a scholar of the Office for the Support of Scientific and Technological Research and Innovation (GAPIC) in a project in Translational Oncology, it became clear that the following year I would apply again for funding of a science project. Given that up to then I had only worked in laboratory research, I came up with the idea of doing a project in Preventive Medicine, a field that I had increasingly become interested in.
I quickly contacted the Institute of Preventive Medicine, where I was made several proposals with regard to possible areas for developing my project, including Hypertension, HIV, and Breastfeeding, all of which I was familiar with as a result of my mandatory training. However, I was particularly attracted to one area that I had not studied before: sexuality. The decision to focus on this topic was obvious, and a few days later I began writing the project, which I titled General Practitioners’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Barriers in the Management of Sexual Dysfunction and which was subsequently approved and funded by GAPIC.
Why this study?
Firstly because sexual dysfunctions are quite prevalent in both sexes (25% to 63% in women and 10% to 52% in men)1, and are a public health problem, often a symptom of other diseases that need to be diagnosed and treated, such as cardiovascular disease.2 Secondly, the fact that international studies indicate that existing barriers in addressing this issue is one of the main reasons why sexual dysfunctions are underdiagnosed, despite most patients finding it appropriate to discuss the matter with their family doctors.3,4 Thirdly, because there is no study in Portugal on this topic. Fourthly, due to the fact that increased knowledge about the way general practitioners deal with sexual disorders on the whole will enable us to identify their training needs, develop new ongoing training programmes and adjust basic training, while simultaneously obtaining a picture of the state of the art in our country.
In order to collect data for this cross-sectional study, a self-completion questionnaire was distributed among a sample of General and Family Medicine (GFM) physicians. The self-completion questionnaire was designed based on available literature and distributed among doctors from the Health Units of ACES (Health Centre Clusters) of Odivelas. The project is currently at the stage of data collection, preparation of the statistical analysis and writing a scientific article.
Participating in this project allowed me to broaden my theoretical knowledge on the topic through constant reading of articles, and to develop skills ranging from drafting the project to the writing of the final article, including designing the questionnaire and a likely article review. In addition, it was with a lot of enthusiasm and support from by tutor that I submitted an abstract to the 20th World Congress for Sexual Health, which will take place in Glasgow this forthcoming June. I recently found out that this abstract was accepted and that I was invited to present a poster, which made me very happy.
I take this opportunity to thank my tutor Dr Violeta Alarcão for her constant support and availability, and GAPIC for its support and encouragement of postgraduate scientific research over the years.
Project Tutors: Professor Alberto Galvão Teles; Co-Tutor: Dr. Violeta Alarcão
Sofia Ribeiro,
student in year 6 of the Integrated Master degree in Medicine
sigmaserena@gmail.com
__________________
Bibliography
1. Laumann, EO, Paik, A, Rosen, RC. Sexual dysfunctions in the United States. Prevalence and Predictors. JAMA. 1999; 281: 537-544.
2. Haro, JM, Beardsworth, A, Casariego, J, et al. Treatment-seeking behavior of Erectile Dysfunction patients in Europe: results of the Erectile Dysfunction Observational Study. J Sex Med 2006; 3: 530–40.
3. EO Laumann; A Nicolosi; DB Glasser; A Paik; C Gingell; E Moreira; T Wang, Sexual Problems Among Women and Men Aged 40–80 y: Prevalence and Correlates Identified in the Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, International Journal of Impotence Research (2005), 17: 39:57.
4. Stanley E. Althof, Eric W. Corty, Stephen B. Levine, et al. Edits: Development Of Questionnaires For Evaluating Satisfaction With Treatments For Erectile Dysfunction, Urology 53: 793–799, 1999.
