"De vet ju inte vems säng de ligger i"
En studie om vårdpersonals tolkningar, bemötande och hantering av demenssjukas sexuella uttryck
The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how nursing home staff at dementia care facilities interpret, treat and manages sexual behavior of patients. Four group interviews were made with a total of thirteen participants from three different dementia care facilities. The collected material was processed and thematized in pursuance of the research questions of the study. The results were analysed using three concepts from queer theory; heteronormativity, the heterosexual matrix and power, as well as an article about how nursing home staff constructs actions of patients. The results showed that staff member?s assessments about the patient?s sexual behaviours depended on their posture towards the norm of what is considered to be acceptable. They would allow the sexual behaviour in order to neither restrict nor permit, as long as the staff felt that nobody was liable to harm. The sexual behaviour was related to the cognitive disorder and not to sexuality on the occasions when the nursing home staff considered it to be inappropriate. The results also showed that as a way of coping, the staff would utilize a defusing language to describe the patient?s sexual behaviour.