(052) Sexual Health and Clinical Sexology Specific Training Needs of Residents in Gynecology and Obstetrics

Abstract

Assuming that the Obstetrician and Gynecologist (ObGyn) is the natural and first interlocutor for sexual questions in women, particular attention should be paid to their specific training in sexual health and clinical sexology. However, it turns out that the latter is neglected with little attention given to the development or implementation of specific curricular programs within the gynecologists’ residency programs. This study aims to: - Identify and analyze the specific needs of the ObGyn residents in terms of education and training in Sexual Health and Clinical Sexology. - Discuss the methods of integrating a specific sexology training into their residency program to be adapted to the needs thus identified. It is a knowledge, attitudes, and practices cross-sectional online study that took place over 5 weeks starting May 1st, 2021. All the ObGyn residents registered at the National College of Gynecology and Obstetrics were contacted through the College’s social media groups. The online questionnaire was a 9-item Google form elaborated in concertation with the Frequency, Gravity Problem (FGP) grid leading to 33 questions. With a response rate of 34 %, 94 residents participated in the survey. The participants were representative of the local population of ObGyn residents with an equal proportion of participants from the 5 years of the program. According to 69% of the participants, complaints or sexual disorders are rarely encountered during the ObGyn residency program courses. This finding was not correlated with the participants' residency level (R= 0.258, p> 0.05). The most frequently encountered sexual disorders during the clinical consultations were sexual disorders with pain (44.68%) and in particular vaginismus (75%). Regardless of the frequency of the disorders, the difficulties reported were primarily in the domain of knowledge (67.5%); then in the domain of know-how or practices (68%), and often in the domain of interpersonal skills (42.2%). Following the application of the rating system of the FGP grid, the main problems identified concerned sexual disorders with pain, in particular, vaginismus and then a decrease in female desire. Following the analysis of these results and a review of the literature, we were able to propose the outline of a project to implement basic academic education and training in clinical sexology for the ObGyn residents. No.