Review article

Teaching about sexually transmitted diseases in an undergraduate nursing course: An integrative review

¹Cosme Sueli de Faria Pereira, ²Cláudia Mara de Melo Tavares, ³Ann Mary Machado Tinoco Feitosa Rosas and ^*4Gabriela Silva dos Santos

¹Nurse, Master's studentof Nursing School Aurora Afonso Costa - Federal University Fluminense – Niterói (RJ)-Brazil, E-mail: cosmehesfa@yahoo.com.br

²Nurse, Doctor, Full teacher of Nursing School Aurora Afonso Costa - Federal University Fluminense -Niterói (RJ)- Brazil. E-mail:claudiamarauff@gmail.com

³Nurse, Doctor of Nursing Practice. Assistant Professor at Anna Nery School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil E-mail: annmaryrosas@gmail.comm

⁴Nurse, Master’s student of Nursing School Aurora Afonso Costa - Federal University Fluminense - Niterói (RJ)- Brazil.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: sisan.gabi@hotmail.com; tel: 55 21 971451804

Accepted 11 May 2015

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to discuss the teaching of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) in an undergraduate nursing course and how this relates to the practical scenario. Methodology: an integrative literature review was carried out in March 2013 on the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS) database using the following keywords: "Sexually Transmitted Diseases" and "Teaching". Around four hundred (400) articles related to these keywords were found. After careful selection, there were forty nine (49) articles in agreement with the aim of this study and only five (5) had directly approached the proposed theme. The inclusion criteria used were: research articles published between 1998 and 2008, availability of the text online and in full, written in Portuguese and focused on the object of study. Opinion articles, editorials and theses were excluded. Results: The articles discuss the issue of teaching about Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Undergraduate Nursing Courses, and report a need for change both in terms of investment in new research and in the evaluation of the training. Conclusions: The students have the theoretical background and guidance, but there are doubts as to the prevention of STD's. Different authors have reported fragmentation of this content in undergraduate courses and there are few medical schools that offer this modular course. There is still much to add in undergraduate education aimed at improving the teaching about Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Keywords: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Teaching, Nursing