Alexandra B Caloudas, Amber B Amspoker, Melinda Stanley, Derrecka Boykin, Kelley Arredondo, Annette Walder, Julianna Hogan, Jan A Lindsay
{"title":"Prevalence of sexual desire and arousal difficulties among women veterans: A retrospective cohort design.","authors":"Alexandra B Caloudas, Amber B Amspoker, Melinda Stanley, Derrecka Boykin, Kelley Arredondo, Annette Walder, Julianna Hogan, Jan A Lindsay","doi":"10.1037/ser0000733","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Low sexual desire and arousal are associated with several negative health outcomes, including reduced quality of life, depression, anxiety, and relationship discord. Although women veterans have high rates of risk factors for sexual dysfunctions (e.g., elevated rates of trauma, depression, anxiety), research on their sexual functioning is lacking. Using a retrospective cohort design, we examined the prevalence of documented sexual desire and arousal disorder diagnoses or symptoms, using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes, among 790,726 women veterans receiving care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). In fiscal year 2020, these symptoms and disorders were documented for only 0.19% (<i>n</i> = 1,494) of women veterans receiving care and symptoms of low sexual desire were documented more frequently than formal desire and arousal diagnoses. Most women veterans with desire and arousal problems were married (53.88%), and most (52.28%) were prescribed antidepressants. Mental health (MH) treatment for desire and arousal difficulties was commonly delivered in person (as compared to telephone or telehealth). Psychologists primarily treated desire and arousal concerns, providing an average of 2.81 MH encounters (<i>SD</i> = 7.53) compared to an average of 1.62 (<i>SD</i> = 5.25) MH encounters by social workers and 1.22 (<i>SD</i> = 2.53) by psychiatrists. Problems with low sexual desire and arousal are likely underassessed and undertreated within the VHA. Better assessment of women veterans' low desire and arousal is warranted to improve their well-being and quality of life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20749,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Services","volume":" ","pages":"780-788"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10277319/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychological Services","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000733","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/12/19 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Low sexual desire and arousal are associated with several negative health outcomes, including reduced quality of life, depression, anxiety, and relationship discord. Although women veterans have high rates of risk factors for sexual dysfunctions (e.g., elevated rates of trauma, depression, anxiety), research on their sexual functioning is lacking. Using a retrospective cohort design, we examined the prevalence of documented sexual desire and arousal disorder diagnoses or symptoms, using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes, among 790,726 women veterans receiving care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). In fiscal year 2020, these symptoms and disorders were documented for only 0.19% (n = 1,494) of women veterans receiving care and symptoms of low sexual desire were documented more frequently than formal desire and arousal diagnoses. Most women veterans with desire and arousal problems were married (53.88%), and most (52.28%) were prescribed antidepressants. Mental health (MH) treatment for desire and arousal difficulties was commonly delivered in person (as compared to telephone or telehealth). Psychologists primarily treated desire and arousal concerns, providing an average of 2.81 MH encounters (SD = 7.53) compared to an average of 1.62 (SD = 5.25) MH encounters by social workers and 1.22 (SD = 2.53) by psychiatrists. Problems with low sexual desire and arousal are likely underassessed and undertreated within the VHA. Better assessment of women veterans' low desire and arousal is warranted to improve their well-being and quality of life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Psychological Services publishes high-quality data-based articles on the broad range of psychological services. While the Division"s focus is on psychologists in "public service," usually defined as being employed by a governmental agency, Psychological Services covers the full range of psychological services provided in any service delivery setting. Psychological Services encourages submission of papers that focus on broad issues related to psychotherapy outcomes, evaluations of psychological service programs and systems, and public policy analyses.