| Summary: | A society's moral heart can be judged by how well it provides for its weakest and most
vulnerable citizens. In recent years significant strides have been made to improve the
quality of institutionalized persons' lives. However, because we have not yet fully
developed a moral vision of long-term care living, residents do not always receive the
basic care that they should. Particularly ignored and inadequately addressed is the
complex moral and social issue of residents' sexual lives.
Currently there is little support for sexual activity or sexual care in long-term care
settings. Society's moral rules are designed for independent people living in their own
homes. Professional governance bodies have created moral rules regulating short-term
professional interactions and responsibilities but rarely have ones that pertain to longterm
care settings. The aim of the present research is to contribute to the development of
a moral vision of how long-term care institutions should manage sexual activity and
sexual care.
A qualitative study was designed to identify the factors that negatively influence sexual
activity and sexual care, and the supports that residents and staff respectively need in
order to have sexual lives and provide sexual care. Using an exploratory design the
investigator conducted in-depth interviews with twenty-four residents and staff and
carried out twenty hours of participant observation with two community residents. Six
negative influences on residents' sexual lives and nine negative influences on staffs
provision of sexual care were identified.
The work also explores ethical and legal issues pertaining to the provision o f sexual care.
It is argued that residents have moral rights to sexual care which impose duties on
institutions to provide that care. Legal barriers to providing such care are then considered,
and found not to be insurmountable.
The above research and explorations led to three conclusions. First, unless sexual care is
available residents cannot have sexual lives. Second, for sexual care to be available
institutions must accept that it is their moral responsibility to provide it and ensure that
staff are adequately supported. Third, institutions should develop a framework for the
delivery of sexual care. === Arts, Faculty of === Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies === English, Department of === Graduate
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