PUPPOSE: This study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and educational needs for sexuality of the elderly.
METHOD
This was a descriptive study, in which data were collected from February to April 2002 from 354 elderly who were residing in Chung-Chung province.
RESULT
1. The level of knowledge regarding sexuality was below average. 2. The level of the attitudes toward sexuality of the elderly was neither positive nor negative. 3. The educational needs of the elderly were above average. 4. Higher level of knowledge on sexuality was significantly correlated with more positive attitudes and education needs for sexuality, and more positive attitudes toward sexuality was significantly correlated with more educational needs for sexuality.
CONCLUSION
Particularly men, with good health, and those who were in intimate relationships with their spouses and still engaged with active sexual life showed somewhat higher level of knowledge and positive attitudes as well as higher educational needs. Therefore, further development and applying of sexuality promotion programs for healthy elder couples should be considered in the future to enhance the quality of life of elder population. In addition, it is also suggested to develop an alternative intervention program on sexuality for elderly who are women, those with meager health, and the bereaved.

The purpose of this study was to explore the educational needs of kidney transplant patients and educational importance perceived by their nurses to develop a rehabilitational and educational program. Data were collected from January 29, 1999 to July 30, 1999 with interviews using a structured questionnaire. The subjects for this study were 173, of whom 107 were patients who had had a kidney transplant and had visited the out-patient department and 66 were transplant ward nurses who were taking care of the kidney transplant patients at six general hospitals located in Seoul. The questionnaire used for this study was developed by the investigator through a literature review and collected and modified by 11 professional personnel and 3 kidney transplant patients. The data were analyzed using the SAS program for numbers, percentiles, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and Scheff test. The results were as follows; 1) In the patient group, the total mean score for educational needs was 154.61 and the item mean score was 3.96. In the nurses group, the total mean score for perceived educational importance was 166.26 and the item mean score was 4.26. In the nurses group, perceived educational needs were scored higher than by the patient group. With regard to domains, both patient and nurses group had the highest educational needs and perceived educational importance in the domain of physical condition and the top five items in the educational needs and perceived educational importance were also in the domain of physical condition. 2) In the patient group, women and the divorce/bereavement group had higher educational needs in the domain of nutritional management, those who had been admitted longer than 4 weeks from their kidney transplant time had higher educational needs in the domains of physical condition and those who were less than 4 years from their transplant had higher educational needs in the domain of follow-up care. In the nurses group, those who were married had higher perceived educational importance in the domain of physical condition.