La sessualità e l'intimità di coppia dopo il cancro: Un'indagine esplorativa a cinque anni o più dalla fine dei trattamenti

Introduction. Long-term cancer survivorship is a reality for a growing number of persons diagnosed with cancer and this fact justifies the great effort made to know and to improve quality of life (QoL) after having experienced a cancer and its treatments. In this paper, the perception of both sexuality and intimacy - that represents a QoL domain is investigated in a sample of long-term cancer survivors to identify potential problematic areas and to verify its association with the main socio-demographic and clinical variables. Method. 96 long-term cancer survivors (i.e. persons free from cancer and its treatments for at least 5 years) filled out a brief questionnaire together with a socio-demographic and clinical form. Results. 17.7% of the sample reported lower interest in sexuality and intimacy; 34.3% more interest in tenderness and cuddles; 12.5% discomfort in intimacy; 30.2% decreased frequency of sexual intercourses; 28.2%, 23.9% and 22.9%, respectively, decreased sexual desire, difficulty with arousal, difficulty with orgasm; finally, 37.5% reported absent or poor satisfaction for their own sexual life. The perception of sexuality and intimacy was associated with gender, age, occupational status, cancer type, other health problems, organic/functional genital damage (p