Abstract/Summary

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is a devastating, life altering event, often resulting in issues around sexual functioning. Such changes can severely impact on a person’s self-esteem and perceived value as a sexual being. Sexual functioning and satisfaction are integral components impacting on overall quality of life (QoL) and highly prioritised areas of concern post-SCI. Education and support for sexual wellbeing is minimally embedded within the spinal cord injury rehabilitation process. Identifying the barriers to seeking and accessing professional support in the context of sexual wellbeing post-SCI would better inform targeted interventions designed to improve and enhance support service and provision. This thesis adopts a multifaceted qualitative approach and aims to improve the understanding of experiences of sexual functioning and satisfaction following injury, through the perspectives of individuals living with a spinal cord injury, partners of those living with a spinal cord injured individual and healthcare professionals who are specialist in spinal cord injury. Findings identify a substantial unmet need in relation to sex-based support within SCI rehabilitation services and have clear implications for ways to maximise facilitators and minimize barriers to improve such education and support. This thesis provides preliminary evidence to support a potential intervention, specifically designed to optimally support sexual (re)engagement post SCI. Collectively, the findings of this thesis have clear implications for both improving the identification and treatment of sexual wellbeing in the SCI population, as well as increasing awareness, professional competence and understanding amongst clinicians and wider society.