Assessment of sexual functioning: sexual history taking for health care practitioners.

Overview

It is important for clinicians to inquire about sexual functioning as part of routine mental and physical health care. General guidelines for taking a skillful and sensitive sexual history are given, including ways to initiate discussions and make the patient feel more at ease. In addition, a sample comprehensive sexual history is presented. This is a revised version of the Integrated Model of Sexual Therapy developed by Helen Singer Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D. It includes a large number of sample questions, which are organized according to such categories as exploring the chief complaint, the sexual status examination, and the medical, psychiatric, family, psychosexual, and relationship histories. Additional questions pertaining to epilepsy and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases are also included.