Psychosocial Approaches for Sexual Health and Intimate Relationships Among Patients With Serious Mental Illness.

INTRODUCTION

The sexual health and behavior and the intimate relationships of patients diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI) have been described as ongoing and often ignored concerns in mental health treatment. Evidence-based psychosocial interventions have emerged as effective complimentary approaches to address symptoms of SMI in conjunction with psychopharmacology, yet rarely do they address sexual concerns in a targeted manner.

AIM: This systematic review explores the scope and efficacy of psychosocial interventions designed to address sexual health and behavior and intimate relationship concerns in patients with SMI.

METHODS

The search was conducted in four targeted databases and identified 967 articles with four of those meeting inclusion criteria for this review.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The data extracted included setting, study sample, study design, outcome measures, data analysis, and results. The measures utilized in the studies assess mental and sexual health-related outcomes.

RESULTS

All four studies reported an improvement in sexual and mental health outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Given the lack of psychosocial approaches and culturally sensitive adaptations, this review highlights a gap in literature that should be addressed, particularly emphasizing their combined treatment with psychotropic medication and efficacy testing with diverse populations.