Intimité et sexualité en gériatrie

Entry into nursing home or long-term care unit raises the question of maintaining privacy in these collective living spaces, and of the place left open for active sexuality among residents. We therefore need to define the different aspects of sexuality, and recall the realities of sexuality in old age. This reality is at odds with contemporary social representations of sexuality in old age, and puts family attitudes to the test. In addition, there are also the institutional difficulties in managing inappropriate sexual behaviours, which generate uneasiness, and in measuring the extent of partner consent in case of cognitive impairment.