YOUR TITLE HERE 1

Sexual Intimacy in Old Age

Your Name

University
YOUR TITLE HERE 2

Annotated Bibliography

DeLamater, J. D., & Sill, M. (2005). Sexual desire in later life. Journal of Sex

Research, 42(2), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552267

This article was published in the Journal of Sex Research in the year 2005. In their

article, DeLamater and Sill mention that only a little research has been done on the topic of

sex and old age. The purpose of this study was to understand and recognize different factors,

from biological and psychological perspective, that affect the sexual drive of individuals

above the age of 60. However, they concluded their paper by stating that in their observation

psychological factors and attitudes played a bigger role than biological factors. This article

can be useful for my paper because it contains credible and reliable information.

Kalra, G., Pinto, C., & Subramanyam, A. (2011). Sexuality: Desire, activity and intimacy in

the elderly. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(4), 300. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-

5545.91902

This article written by Kalra, Subramanyam and Pinto, was published in the Indian

Journal of Psychiatry. It discusses the fact that sexual function in old age is a topic that is not

adequately studied. The purpose of this study was to shed some light onto the patterns of

sexual functions of individuals aged 50 and above. Moreover, the authors also took into

consideration the chronic illnesses of these individuals to understand how they interfere with

the sexual activity of these individuals. For this study, the authors conducted interviews with

60 individuals out of which 57% of the people above the age of 60 years were found to be

sexually active. This shows that sexual desires may decrease, but do not die with age.

Kaplan, H. S. (1990). Sex, Intimacy, and the Aging Process. Journal of the American

Academy of Psychoanalysis, 18(2), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.1.1990.18.2.185

YOUR TITLE HERE 3

This article was published in the Journal of American Academy of Psychoanalysis in

the year 1990. The author of the article, Kaplan (1990), states in her article that sexual desires

do not die with age, rather they become a little faint. The reasons behind the decline of the

sex drive is not just the age, there are a number of psychological reasons that also play an

important role. Kaplan (1990) suggests psychological and sex therapy to bring about

improvement in the sex-life of older adults because in her experience such therapies have

produced positive results.

Rheaume, C., & Mitty, E. (2008). Sexuality and Intimacy in Older Adults. Geriatric

Nursing, 29(5), 342–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2008.08.004

This article published in the journal of Geriatric Nursing discusses the importance of

studying intimate behaviours in older adults. The authors, Rheaume and Mitty state that it is

very common for healthcare providers to think negatively of an older aged individual who

expresses sexual desires. However, it is very important for such behaviours to be recognized

and not condemned. Nurses should especially help to elevate the barriers related to this topic

among older population. This study will also help me in writing my paper because it consists

of statistical data that can be incorporated to support my claim.

Watters, Y., & Boyd, T. V. (2009). Sexuality in later life: opportunity for reflections

for healthcare providers. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 24(3–4), 307–315.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14681990903398047

This article was written by Watters and Boyd and published in 2009 in a journal

called Sexual and Relationship Therapy. The topic of the paper was sexuality in later life,

where the authors explore the intimate desires among old ager individuals through a case

study. The case involves an 82 year old male who had last stage dementia and a 79 year old

woman with cancer. Both the patients exchanged innocent intimate gestures like touch and
YOUR TITLE HERE 4

smiles. When the nurses saw this they decided to separate the two since the male patient was

married. Soon after that the female died. The authors claim that intimacy and sexual desires

last for a lifetime. However, Healthcare providers fail to recognize it or consider it

inappropriate. With this paper, the authors hope to shed some light on this ignored aspect of

human nature. This paper consists information that is taken from a credible and reliable

source.
YOUR TITLE HERE 5

References

DeLamater, J. D., & Sill, M. (2005). Sexual desire in later life. Journal of Sex

Research, 42(2), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552267

Kalra, G., Pinto, C., & Subramanyam, A. (2011). Sexuality: Desire, activity and intimacy in

the elderly. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(4), 300. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-

5545.91902

Kaplan, H. S. (1990). Sex, Intimacy, and the Aging Process. Journal of the American

Academy of Psychoanalysis, 18(2), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.1.1990.18.2.185

Rheaume, C., & Mitty, E. (2008). Sexuality and Intimacy in Older Adults. Geriatric

Nursing, 29(5), 342–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2008.08.004

Watters, Y., & Boyd, T. V. (2009). Sexuality in later life: opportunity for reflections for

healthcare providers. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 24(3–4), 307–315.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14681990903398047