Nurses experiences of talking about sexuality with patients suffering from mental illness

Background: Sexuality has been considered as a part of people's lives that are more than a biological and reproductive function. Diseases, medications and mental conditions can directly or indirectly affect the person's sexual health, so it is a subject not to ignore in the nursing perspective. Although nurses believed that sexuality was an important subject, it is not a priority in psychiatric care. People with mental illness lacked information and conversations about sexuality and sexual health. It is precisely in this area that people had a higher risk of being sexually exploited, suffering from sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies. In order to achieve a holistic care, nurses expressed that they needed to involve sexuality in their profession. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of talking about sexuality with the patients suffering from mental illness. Method: A literaturebased study of ten scientific qualitative articles that have been compiled and analyzed. Articlesearches were conducted in the databases PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo and PsycArticles. Results: Four categories emerged that explain the experiences of nurses related to their responsibilities and knowledge about sexuality. A category was how the responsibility of the organization to implement routines and effective work environment can influence the communication of the nurses and patients. Another category presented the feelings of nurses about how their approach and how their attitudes affect the communication with patients suffering from mental illness about sexuality. Conclusion: The nurses are awarded that sexuality is an important subject and a fundamental aspect of life. Nurses needed more education about sexuality to be able to engage in a conversation with patients and kept in mind that they are responsible for holistic care. Nurses attitudes towards to the mental health patients and sexuality is a big barrier in which nurses need to change and the organization needs to provide all the necessary help for the nurses to do an adequate job. Patients need to receive the best care regardless of their mental state