ReviewThe Lancet. Public health2021
What is sexual wellbeing and why does it matter for public health?
Review in The Lancet. Public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 135 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
135 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effect of psychosocial interventions for sexual health in patients with pelvic cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2024Pooled it
- Feasibility and effectiveness of communication tools for addressing intimacy and sexuality in patients with cancer: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Pleasure and PrEP: A Systematic Review of Studies Examining Pleasure, Sexual Satisfaction, and PrEP.Journal of sex research · 2022Pooled it
- Exploring the adult sexual wellbeing and behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The barriers and enablers to accessing sexual health and sexual well-being services for midlife women (aged 40-65 years) in high-income countries: A mixed-methods systematic review.Women's health (London, England)Pooled it
- Adherence, Acceptability, and Sexual Health Outcomes of the Odeya App-Based Intervention for Sexual Distress in Women With Endometriosis: Randomized Controlled Mixed Methods Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Sexual health after childbirth: a qualitative study of women's experiences.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Vaginal microbiomes and their pertinent social context: a microbial ecological review proffering AMR-STI acquisition and emergence.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- The Enablers and Barriers to Accessing Women's Health and Wellbeing Services for Women Aged 40-65 Years: A Qualitative Study.Community health equity research & policy · 2026Article
- Healthcare providers' approaches to sexual function in women with migration histories: a qualitative study using Andersen's behavioural model.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Why Sexual Choking Is Not as Safe as You Think: A Call to Action from Sex Researchers and Kink Educators.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Review
- Shaping the future of sexual medicine in Europe.International journal of impotence research · 2026Review
- Associations Between Frequency, Motivations, and Problematic Pornography Use and Sexual Well-Being: A Dyadic Prospective Study Among Couples.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Work-Related Quality of Life, Mental Health, and Female Sexual Well-Being Among Nurses.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Protection from "any kind of risk" - a qualitative study exploring young women's experiences of safer sex in Canada.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on sexual behavior, male sexual function, and reproductive health: an interdisciplinary narrative review from a urological perspective.International urology and nephrology · 2026Review
- Associations Between Extreme Weather Events, Resource Insecurities, and HIV Vulnerabilities Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Kenya: Latent Profile Analysis Findings.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Sexual Well-Being of Young People in Times of Widespread Pornography Use: Protocol for a Multidisciplinary Research Framework.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Phytochemical-based nanomedicine as a promising therapeutic strategy for erectile dysfunction.Asian journal of andrology · 2026Review
- Sexual Communication: Assessing the Validity of Three Scales that Reflect In-Person, Text-Based, and Voice Chat-Based Frequency of Communication Among U.S. Young Adults.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
75 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Sexual health has provided a guiding framework for addressing sexuality in public health for several decades. Although the WHO definition of sexual health is revolutionary in acknowledging positive sexuality, public health approaches remain focused on risk and adverse outcomes. The long-standing conflation of sexual health and sexual wellbeing has affected our ability to address everyday sexual issues. This Viewpoint provides a way forward to resolve this impasse. We propose sexual wellbeing as a distinct and revolutionary concept that can be operationalised as a seven-domain model. We situate sexual wellbeing alongside sexual health, sexual justice, and sexual pleasure as one of four pillars of public health enquiry. We argue that sexual wellbeing is imperative to public health as a marker of health equity, a meaningful population indicator of wellbeing, a means to capture population trends distinct from sexual health, and an opportunity to refocus the ethics, form, and practices of public health.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.