Psykosocial och sexuell hälsa hos unga män födda med analatresi. Att hantera sin livssituation med en medfödd missbildning

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine young men born between 1990-1995 with anorectal malformations (ARM) whom have undergone the new PSARP-operation starting in 1990, and how they experience their psychosocial and sexual health. The study also examines how they cope with their life situation and what their experience is of the health care and how they were responded to through out the years. This study is a qualitative research and consists seven semi- structured interviews with young men between sixteen and twenty years old. The analyses of this material resulted in three themes around which the study centers: psychosocial health, sexual health and the medical establishment and the informants thoughts about the proposition of counseling for themselves and other individuals born with ARM. The study shows that these young men have a good psychosocial health and a likely reason for that is good parental relationships and close friendships. It is difficult to draw any general conclusions about their sexual health, because there are several factors that played a role in this respect: there is a relatively widespread in their young age, their deformities are of various degrees and requires very different care and they have very different sexual experiences. However, there are factors which indicate that sexual health is affected by the congenital malformation. The study also showed that the young men have different coping strategies to manage their life situation in order to avoid exclusion and stigma. And that there are different needs for counseling among young ARM patients.