Bridging the gap between practice guidelines and clinical practice: results from a consumer-oriented evaluation of sexual aids

Sexual health is often negatively impacted by cancer therapies. Using a consumer-oriented approach, our aim was to identify non-pharmacologic sexual aids available online to increase knowledge of sexual health resources. NCCN Survivorship 1.2022 guidelines were used to identify 13 recommended non-pharmacologic SHA categories. For each category, an initial internet search evaluated the top 25 links for the “Best of”. We categorized hyperlinks by publication and author type and listed candidate SHAs. In May 2023, we used 7-8 websites (3 mainstream, 4 sexual health sites +/- manufacturer) to record each candidate SHA customer rating on a 5-star scale. Inclusion required a minimum of 50 ratings and a 4.0 star average.

There were 874 potential items, mostly (60.3%) from magazines, newspapers, and blog posts. 535 met criteria for potential therapeutic value. 287 items meeting our customer-reported quality threshold, with a median of 631 reviews (range: 51-128,481) and a median rating of 4.4 stars (4.0-5.0). We identified a median of 7 (1-107) SHAs per NCCN category.