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Intimate moments need a little space
Study finds facilities place many obstacles in the way of residents’ sex lives, argues only new laws will improve things.
Staff enter residents’ rooms without knocking. Couples receive single beds. Workers gossip about residents.
These are some of the ways some aged-care facilities prevent couples from being intimate that PhD candidate Alison Rahn, from the University of New England’ s School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, highlighted.
Rahn co-authored the paper Conflicting Agendas: The politics of sex in aged care, and said many staff members did not accept that couples may seek intimacy. Rahn was driven to explore this topic when she realised there was no specific protection for couples in these circumstances.
She added many aged-care facilities still segregate sexes, including couples, and ignore the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex residents.“ The majority of facilities lack formal policies or guidelines stating their position on residents expressing themselves sexually,” Rahn said.
She explained there are no government policies to address the sexual needs of aged-care residents and added it was unlikely the issue would be addressed unless legislated measures were in place.
For her study, Rahn searched parliamentary documents and newspapers for proposed legislation, including poring over the last 40 years of relevant Hansard speeches and debates that might have affected the experience of couples in aged care.
“ We analysed 200 documents and found that parliamentary debates revealed a cycle of conflicting agendas and partial solutions to systemic problems experienced by couples in care,” she said.“ Debates around residents’ sexual needs have been heated and sensationalist. There are examples of religious institutions aggressively lobbying to override residents’ needs.”
The paper recommended specific human rights legislation for older Australians and that their wellbeing be the guiding principle in political decision-making on behalf of aged-care residents. ■
Ounce of prevention? Not enough
Health leaders say Australia needs to do much more to stop the effects of avoidable diseases.
Australia is facing increased rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as dangerously high levels of salt and sugar consumption in adults, a report card on the nation’ s health has found.
Australia’ s Health Tracker, released by Australian Health Policy Collaboration( AHPC) at Victoria University, found the nation is failing to prevent ailments such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.
More than 50 health organisations worked together on the assessment in an effort to warn governments and industries that immediate action is needed to fight preventable diseases.
AHPC director Rosemary Calder said:“ Despite 1 in 2 Australians living with a chronic disease and 1 in 5 people battling two or more chronic diseases, less than
2 per cent of government health spending is dedicated to prevention.”
Calder said health leaders nationally hold grave concerns about the lack of prevention of chronic disease.
Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Michael Moore said the tool shows almost one-third of chronic disease could be prevented by removing risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity and high body mass.
“[ It’ s particular shocking that ] almost 30 per cent of Australians are either obese or overweight and 91.5 per cent of Australians are not doing enough physical activity,” Moore said.“ Now more than ever, the elected government needs to implement measures to stop the rise in chronic disease in its tracks.”
The tool did provide some good news, including a drop in smoking rates and reduced risky alcohol intake, as well as fewer deaths from cardiovascular disease, stroke and common cancers.
Still, Calder said, the improvements are“ masked by frustration”, as they show that change can occur but government, industry and community need to take the lead.
“ We hope that Australia’ s Health Tracker will be a tool for action and accountability to protect the most important asset in our country – our health,” she said. ■
2 agedcareinsite. com. au