Patient sexuality education in healthcare curricula

Background: Sexual health is an integral dimension of person-centred care, yet healthcare professionals often receive little structured preparation for discussing sexuality with patients. Aim: This narrative review critically synthesises evidence on education in patient sexuality, identifies barriers that prevent healthcare professionals from opening the topic in clinical encounters, and proposes a feasible educational framework for healthcare curricula. Methods: A narrative review was updated by a targeted PubMed search on 5 October 2026; 89 records were assessed and 14 additional full-text articles incorporated. Results: The literature consistently shows that sexual health content is fragmented, unevenly assessed, and often absent from nursing education. Barriers operate at individual, institutional, and system levels. These barriers include embarrassment, lack of confidence, limited time, unclear professional responsibility, and weak managerial support. Educational interventions can improve knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and communication skills, when factual teaching is combined with guided reflection and simulation. Conclusion: Patient sexuality should be treated as a legitimate component of care rather than an optional topic. A minimum curriculum based on PLISSIT can help non-specialists ask permission, provide limited information, and refer patients appropriately.