Sexual Health Care Centered on Persons and their Partners

Abstract

Introduction: Person Centered Psychiatry and Medicine places the person at the center of the concept of health and as the key goal and main protagonist of health actions. The main precedents for Person Centered Medicine (PCM) in the sexual health field include, first, the integrative and person- and couple-centered approach to mental and sexual health developed by Mezzich and Hernandez-Serrano and their broadly international colleagues in the Section of Psychiatry and Sexual Health of the World Psychiatric Association. A second precedent involves the formulation on persons-centered care for people experiencing sexual conditions by Brajkovic, Hernandez-Serrano et al.  
 
Objective: This article presents a model of person-centered sexual health care seeking to extend to the broad matrix of persons and their partners the principles and strategies of Person Centered Medicine (PCM).
 
Method: In ordert to achieve the stated objective, this paper builds on systematic conceptualization studies on Person Centered Medicine and the delineation of general strategies derived from PCM principles for advancing clinical care and health education. To do so, the paper incorporates contributions to sexual health and sexual education consistent with the broad concepts of Person Centered Medicine.
 
Results: The paper organizes in a tabular format the recognized principles of Person Centered Medicine and a set of derived clinical care and health education strategies derived from them aimed at advancing the practical implementation of sexual health care and sexual education centered on persons and their partners.
 
Discussion: The tabulated results are amplified and complemented with pertinent reflexions and recommendations from the broad literature on Person Centered Medicine.
 
Conclusions: The paper concludes with the fundamental meaning of the offered practical recommentadions highlighting the value of observing the rights and responsibilities of persons and their partners to cultivate sexual wellbeing based on the ethical imperative of lifes well lived.