Improving the health of sex workers: education and empowerment are key

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In her debut blog, Eve Wang summarises a recent systematic review in The Lancet Public Health of interventions to improve the health and the determinants of health among sex workers in high-income countries.

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RESPECT! Find out what it means to me(ntal health services)

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Beccy White explores the recently published RESPECT trial – a feasibility RCT which finds that a sexual health promotion intervention was safe and acceptable for people with severe mental illness.

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What are mental health staff doing to address the sexual health needs of service users? It’s complicated.

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Sarah Watts explores a small qualitative study that asked NHS staff about the sexual health and sexuality needs of people with serious mental illness.

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Sexual safety in mental health inpatient units #SexualSafetyMH

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Liz Hughes considers the findings and implications of the new CQC report on sexual safety on mental health wards, which calls for co-produced guidance to enable everyone who delivers mental health services to do the right thing about sexual safety.

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Sexual function matters to people living with serious mental illness

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Rudiger Pittrof and Elana Covshoff from SHRINE (Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Inclusion and Empowerment) explore a recent review, which looks at the impact of severe mental disorders and psychotropic medications on sexual health and its implications for clinical management.

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Chemsex: just dance or bad romance?

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Dean Connolly presents the findings of a recent literature review on chemsex, which explores sexualised drug use in UK men who have sex with men.

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No sexual health history please, we’re British!

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Kirsten Lawson presents the results of a systematic review of observational cross-sectional studies, which looks at the worldwide prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C in people with severe mental illness.

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Promoting safer sex in people with severe mental illness

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Caroline Tomes summarises a recent systematic review which finds that behavioural interventions can result in short-term increases in safer sex in people with severe mental illness.

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Insufficient evidence for sexual health promotion interventions in people with severe mental illness

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People with serious mental illness (SMI) such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have higher morbidity and mortality rates due to physical illness. It’s estimated that people with SMI die 10-15 years earlier than the general population (DeHert et al, 2011). Increasingly attention is being paid to ways to improve the physical health of people with [read the full story…]