Aim: The purpose of this study was to provide insights into the nature of female sexuality from the perspective of one group of women following a stroke.Method: Nine female stroke survivors from metropolitan and surrounding districts of Sydney, Australia participated in face to face semi-structured interviews about sexuality after stroke. The age of stroke survivors ranged from 31 to 70 years. The majority of females identified as heterosexual (n = 8). Length of time between stroke and interview ranged from 1 year, 2 months to 15 years, 9 months. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. Braun and Clarke's 6 steps of thematic analysis were used to answer the question: what is the nature of female sexuality?Results: The women in this study saw themselves as sexual beings and communicated a tacit knowledge of the nature of female sexuality. Female sexuality was described as having two distinct, but related aspects, that captured "the being" and "the doing" of female sexuality. These encompassed a woman's way of being female and expressions of that way of being through engagement in specific activities.Conclusions: The findings of this study underline the importance of addressing sexuality as part of rehabilitation and provide some guidance about what might be important to address.Implications for RehabilitationSexuality should be addressed by clinicians as part of person-centred rehabilitation.Understanding "the being" and "the doing" of female sexuality is a pre-requisite for understanding female sexuality post-stroke.Idealised constructions of being female formulated pre-stroke may continue to be points of reference for self-assessment post-stroke, hence need to be understood when seeking to support a positive sense of self.The influence of significant others on the self-esteem of females may be important to consider for some individuals post-stroke.
Keywords: Female sexuality; acquired disability; rehabilitation; stroke.