| Learning Objective #1: Understand women's lived experience of sexually compulsive/addictive behavior | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Recognize women at risk for sexually compulsive/addictive behavior |
Background: Addiction in women is a growing problem in the United States. Two million women use illegal drugs and 4.4 million women are alcoholics. There is a strong connection between substance abuse and sexual activity in women. Approximately 25% of women suffer from sexually compulsive/addictive behavior (SCAB). SCAB is defined as out-of-control sexual behavior that causes distress and/or impairment of social functioning with loss of control over one's ability to make choices about sexual behavior. Consequences include: unplanned pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted infections, violence, severe depression, intense anxiety, low self-esteem, and moral conflict. Women with SCAB substitute unhealthy relationships with sexual behavior(s), for healthy relationships with people. Three components of SCAB are compulsion, continuation despite adverse consequences, and obsession.
Design: Phenomenology is the method utilized to explore women's lived experience of SCAB. Tape recorded, semi-structured interviews are being conducted. Colazzi's descriptive data analysis is being used to extrapolate the meanings of the experience
Sample: Number of participants chosen for a phenomenological study isn't decided in advance because the purpose is to generate a full range of variation in the descriptions used in analyzing the phenomenon. Therefore the size of the sample will be determined by redundancy. Study criteria includes: women between the ages of 18 and 50 years who are sexually active and participate in any of the following twelve step meeting groups: Sex & love addicts anonymous (SLAA), Sex addicts anonymous (SAA), and Sexaholics Anonymous (SA).
Relevance: Women who suffer from SCAB pose a serious health threat to themselves, their families, and their communities. Nursing knowledge generated from this study will expand the limited research base on women with SCAB and will be utilized to develop assessment tools and intervention strategies to help identify and treat these women.