Sexual Experiences of Nursing Students and Its Correlates at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

Background: The sexual experiences of individuals impacts on their psychological well-being. The study determined the sexual experiences of student nurses at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), as well as other factors which may be contributory to the enjoyment of their sexual experience and psychological health.

Methods: The Sexual Experience Inventory (SEI) and the Index of Self-Esteem (ISE) were administered on the final year nursing students at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

Results: One hundred and twenty nine (129) nursing students participated. All participants were females; 123 (95.3%) were single, 84% of them were aged 21 to 28 years. Eighty seven (67.4%) were sexually active.

The desire for sexual satisfaction and religious teachings were the factors which determined the frequency of sexual activities in 39.1% and 36.8% of the respondents respectively. Among the sexually active, 47% had more than one sexual partner. The experience of orgasm was statistically related to the enjoyment of sexual activity (χ2=12.08, p=0.00) Circumcision was not found to be statistically important in the determination of sexual enjoyment in the respondents studied (χ2= 0.03, p=0.85). Both circumcision and sexual enjoyment did not significantly affect self-esteem.

Conclusion: Over half of the students in this study were sexually active with first intercourse occurring early between 17 to 22 years. Achievement of orgasm was important for sexual satisfaction and enjoyment however, the presence or absence of orgasm and circumcision did not affect the self-esteem of the students.