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Background Many physical diseases are associated with sexual health problems. Studies concerning physicians’ barriers to patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health often fail to go beyond descriptive analyses of such barriers. The current study focused on finding those barriers that best predict the frequency of patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health. Methods An online-questionnaire assessed physicians’ sociodemographic information, frequency of holding a discussion on sexual health issues with their patients, and self-perceived barriers to asking patients about sexual health issues. The study was conducted at an Austrian university hospital. 102 physicians (53.9% women/46.1% men) participated. Logistic regression models were calculated to analyze associations between physicians’ barriers and the frequency of patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health in everyday practice. Results Of the physicians, 61.8% reported having a discussion on sexual health with their patients at least rarely in their everyday clinical practice. Physicians’ barriers that predicted low frequency of patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health were: expecting the patient to initiate such a conversation, not feeling responsible for this health issue, fear of offending the patient, and one’s own shame and discomfort. Conclusions In contrast to other studies about physicians’ barriers to patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health, in the current study time constrains were not a prominent barrier to such conversations. Future training should help physicians recognize the relevance of sexual health in one’s medical discipline and they should be taught how to overcome their feelings of shame or how to cope with patients’ negative reactions during patient-physician conversations concerning sexual health. Key messages University hospital physicians rarely address sexual health issues in patient-physician conversations. Physicians most often handed the responsibility to initiate such conversations to the patient.

Infrequent patient-physician conversations about sexual health at an Austrian university hospital