SEXUAL HEALTH PROMOTION AND NURSING

The HIV epidemic provides continued impetus for effective sexual healt h promotion. Sexual health promotion in nursing practice has tradition ally been equated to prevention at primary, secondary and tertiary lev els. Increasing demands on practitioners to address the psycho-social aspects of sexual health, together with a greater emphasis on primary prevention, is leading to the adoption of theoretical paradigms from t he behavioural sciences and the increasing use of counselling skills. The limitations of individualist interventions for primary prevention are explored, and the assumption that health care professionals are ef fective promoters of sexual health is questioned. The importance of pl acing sexual health and nursing practice within a wider social, politi cal and cultural context is emphasized.