A Primary Care Provider’s Guide to Sexual Health for Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury

This article provides guidance for primary care practitioners caring for individuals with spinal cord injuries, emphasizing the importance of addressing sexual health within the primary care setting. It encourages clinicians to shift their focus from merely treating medical conditions to promoting overall health and wellness, recognizing disability as a social construct rather than a purely medical issue. The article also provides practical strategies and frameworks, such as the PLISSIT and Ex-PLISSIT models, to help primary care providers initiate and manage conversations about sexual health with their patients.

• 1
  Relationship factors, such as partner satisfaction and relationship quality, are significant predictors of sexual satisfaction in individuals with spinal cord injury.
• 2
  Patients often wait for healthcare providers to initiate conversations about sexuality, indicating a need for providers to be proactive in addressing these issues.
• 3
  Effective management of sexual health in individuals with SCI requires a collaborative approach across different medical specialties and disciplines.