Opinions of unmarried patients receiving peritoneal dialysis treatment about sexuality

Unmarried patients exposed to peritoneal dialysis treatment often encounter sexual concerns during the treatment. However, the sexual concerns of these patients are often overlooked. Unmarried patients exposed to peritoneal dialysis treatment are no exception to this oversight. This qualitative study was performed to identify changes in the sexual lives of unmarried patients receiving peritoneal dialysis treatment. The study was conducted with 15 unmarried patients whose peritoneal dialysis treatments were ongoing in the peritoneal dialysis unit. The data was collected through semistructured and in-depth individual interviews. All interviews were tape-recorded. The raw results were obtained by analyzing the content of the recorded data. In this study, seven content analysis themes were found. Sexuality is mutual love and respect and sharing, the disease is an obstacle for marriage, the disease is an obstacle for finding a lover/partner, pre-marital sex is not possible, marriage is to serve the man and being ill is an obstacle for this service, there should be masturbation, body image distortion from peritoneal dialysis. In the light of these findings, it could be argued that nurses should be aware of the patient’s sexual lifestyle and functioning. These patients should be referred to comprehensive sexual health programs for treatment, if available.