Learning about sex outside the gutter: Attitudes toward a computer Sex-Expert system

Authors

Eric Ochs, McGill University
Marta Meana, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Louise Pare, Concordia University
Kenneth Mah, McGill UniversityFollow
Yitzchak M. Binik, McGill UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1994

Publication Title

Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy

Volume

20

Issue

2

First page number:

86

Last page number:

102

Abstract

In an ongoing research program investigating the utility of Sexpert, an expert computer system designed to counsel couples about their sexual relationships, we tested whether sexually active couples' attitudes concerning computerized sexual counseling could be affected by interacting with Sexpert. Eighty-one young heterosexual couples drawn from the university and general community were assigned to one of three sources of feedback about couple sexual functioning (Sexpert, a video, a self-help book) or a control condition. Attitudes toward all counseling sources used in the study were assessed through semantic differential and similarity-dissimilarity questionnaires. Subjects in the Sexpert condition showed significant improvements in their attitudes toward computerized sexual counseling and evaluated Sexpert significantly better and more similar to a human therapist as a result of exposure. Subjects in the other three conditions showed no significant changes in attitudes. This study provides strong evidence for the acceptability of a computerized sex-expert system.

Keywords

Mental health counseling; Psychology; Applied; Sex therapy; Sexual disorders

Disciplines

Community-Based Research | Counseling Psychology | Health Psychology | Medicine and Health | Psychiatry and Psychology | Psychology

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

Publisher Citation

Ochs, E. P., Meana, M., Paré, L., Mah, K., & Binik, Y. M. (1994). Learning about sex outside the gutter: attitudes toward a computer sex-expert system. Journal of sex & marital therapy, 20(2), 86-102.

Repository Citation

Ochs, E., Meana, M., Pare, L., Mah, K., Binik, Y. M. (1994). Learning about sex outside the gutter: Attitudes toward a computer Sex-Expert system. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 20(2), 86-102.