Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate sex education and information resources developed to address the sexual health concerns of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the means by which agencies have introduced this clinically sensitive program initiative.
Design: A process evaluation methodology was used to assess program reach, participant satisfaction, program component usage, and quality of materials.
Subjects: Two samples comprising multidisciplinary rehabilitation and disability staff (n = 37) from 36 brain injury agencies that had been utilizing the resources and 12 people with brain injury, respectively.
Settings: A diverse range of rehabilitation and community brain injury agencies.
Outcome Measures: Two purpose-designed evaluation protocols for staff and consumers, respectively, and a readability analysis to assess the comprehensibility of program materials (eg, information sheets) for people with TBI.
Results: Agencies strongly endorsed their role in addressing consumer sexual health concerns. Agencies generally used a selective rather than a universal approach to sex education, with an average of 10% of consumers within agency caseloads receiving some intervention within the previous 12 months. The 4 issues most frequently addressed in education programs were sexual dysfunction, how to meet people, what is sexuality, and sexual adjustment in the context of established preinjury relationships. Finally, the average reading age needed to comprehend the resources was higher than the recommended levels for communicating health information.
Conclusion: The sex education program resources have been positively evaluated by both rehabilitation and community agencies as a means of providing education and information to address the sexual health concerns of people with TBI.