Diffusion of Expert Language Related to Erectile DysFunction: Focus Group Study of Slovak Middle Age

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Diffusion of Expert Language Related to Erectile
(Dys)Function Focus Group Study of Slovak Middle
Aged Men

• Rado MASARYK, School of Education
• Comenius University Bratislava
• Magda PETRJÁNOOVÁ, School of Arts Comenius
  University Bratislava

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Why erectile dysfunction?

• Arrival of oral treatment breakthrough in
  sexology, campaigns by pharmaceutical companies
• New paradigm in medicine healing pain vs.
  improving quality of life
• Charging perception of erectile function
• Issues regarding erection and male identity

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Initial observation 1 jokes that exaggerate
effects of Viagra
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Initial observation 2 Real men don't need Viagra
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Theoretical sources

• Evolutionary paradigm
• Margaret Mead social interactions and culture
• Elain Morgan alternative evolutionary theory
• Michel Foucault - historical, social and
  cultural discourses
• Feminist authors

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Erectile dysfunction - expert definition

• National Institutes of Health Conference (1992)
  replaced the hitherto used term impotence with
  the aim of eliminating pejorative implications
• Defines it as inability of the male to achieve
  an erect penis as part of the overall
  multifaceted process of male sexual function
• However, its various aspects remain poorly
  understood by the general population and by most
  health care professionals

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More expert knowledge...

• Belongs to the most common sexual dysfunctions in
  males (Wagner  Saenz de Tejada, 1998)
• Its prevalence in the group of men aged 40 to 70
  years is estimated at 52 (Feldman et al., 1994)
• Only 10 of men seek medical help (ISIR/MORI
  International Survey on Mens Attitudes toward
  ED,1998)

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The research - methodological framework

• Serge Moscovici (2001) concepts of anchoring
  and objectification
• Denise Jodelet (1989/1991) - expert knowledge on
  psychiatric conditions vs. practical thinking of
  people about the mad

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Research method

• Principal method
• 8 Focus Groups (FG)
• Questionnaires
• Total number of participants N70
• Average age was 49 (40 to 64)
• 6 largest cities of Slovakia
• Semistructured scenarios
• Transcript of discussions
• Manual coding and Atlas.ti

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Diffusion of Expert Language Related to Erectile
(Dys)Function Focus Group Study of Slovak Middle
Aged Men

• Results

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Point 1 economical and social situation

• As seen in previous research (Masaryk Máthé,
  2001)
• No identification with the concept of erectile
  dysfunction
• Seemingly contradictory story - sexuality
  alright, performance is superior, yet there is
  decline (it is a natural process) and sexuality
  is highly valued

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Extract

• NRM23 Economical and social security, and from
  this unrolls wellbeing of the family at home, I
  can buy myself what children feel like having, I
  can buy lunch, I can buy shoes, I can take my
  car and go for a ride, I can on Saturday, Sunday
  go out for some kind of cultural activity or we
  cant. And thats the way it goes, be it
  friendship, family, wife and overall
  relationship. Some are having high times, and
  others are all the way down, and the one in the
  middle, what used to be in socialism that kind of
  being in the middle, everyone more-less equal,
  kind of amplitudes knocked together - it does not
  exist anymore, and now its just the question of
  in which extreme does one end up...

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Point 2 expert vs. lay knowledge

• What experts refer to as erectile dysfunctions
  was understood by our men as
• Decline caused by age
• Lost of erectile function in very high age
• Accident, disease (in younger men)
• Aging man with younger partner
• Childlessness (in younger men)

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Point 3 how does it affect sex lives?
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Point 4 what does that tell us about using
focus groups?

• Relatively low openness and interaction within
  groups
• Quest for an expert
• Challenge to present a total and complex
  solution, not a chance to refine their opinions

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Conclusions and outcomes

• Financial conditions and insecurity
• Social representations of erectile dysfunction.
• Cultural and social norms of gender related
  behavior
• Participants refuse medicalization and
  problematization of their sexuality, welcome the
  qualify of life paradigm in healthcare
• Practical outcomes - recommendations for
  physicians and psychologists, seminars for
  physicians and media

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Thank you for your attention...

• Rado MASARYK, School of Education
• Comenius University Bratislava
• Magda PETRJÁNOOVÁ, School of Arts Comenius
  University Bratislava