This Sexuality, Intimacy and Relationships in Care Settings course is designed for health and social care workers who support adults in residential care, supported living and other care environments. It develops a respectful, person-centred understanding of sexuality, intimate relationships and personal expression, recognising that these can remain important throughout adult life.
This free course covers dignity and human rights, privacy, dementia and changes in sexual expression, consent and mental capacity, professional boundaries, established and new relationships, and safeguarding concerns. Learners will explore how to support individual choice while responding appropriately when consent, coercion, unwanted behaviour, capacity or potential harm creates concern.
Why Take This eLearning Course?
Sexuality, intimacy and relationships can be sensitive areas of care practice, but avoiding the subject can lead to assumptions, unnecessary restrictions or missed safeguarding concerns. This course supports staff to approach these issues professionally, protect dignity and privacy, recognise individual rights and respond proportionately when difficult situations arise.
This course will help you to:
- Approach sexuality, intimacy and relationships with greater confidence and sensitivity.
- Support privacy, personal choice and meaningful relationships as part of person-centred care.
- Avoid assumptions based on age, disability, diagnosis, sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Respond respectfully to changes in sexual expression associated with dementia.
- Set appropriate boundaries when sexual behaviour affects other people.
- Recognise the importance of freely given and ongoing consent.
- Apply key Mental Capacity Act principles to decisions involving sexual choices.
- Identify behaviour that may indicate coercion, exploitation or sexual abuse.
- Balance autonomy with proportionate protection from harm.
- Know when concerns should be recorded, reported or escalated for further support.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Define sexuality, intimacy and relationships and explain their relevance to adult care.
- Explain how dignity, privacy and human rights relate to sexuality and relationships.
- Describe ways care services can support private time, relationships and personal choice.
- Identify possible reasons for changed sexual behaviour in people living with dementia.
- Respond appropriately to public, unwanted or concerning sexual behaviour.
- Describe practical ways to support established couples and new or changing relationships.
- Recognise how personal attitudes can influence professional care practice.
- Define sexual consent and explain relevant Mental Capacity Act principles.
- Explain the limits of substitute decision-making in relation to sexual activity.
- Recognise safeguarding concerns and follow appropriate reporting and escalation procedures.
Sexuality, Intimacy and Relationships in Care Settings Course Outline
The course is organised into eight modules, progressing from the principles of sexuality, dignity and rights through to consent, mental capacity, professional practice and safeguarding.
Module 1: Understanding Sexuality, Intimacy and Relationships
Learners will explore the differences between sexuality, intimacy and relationships, including affection, attraction, identity, companionship and physical closeness. The module considers why these aspects of adult life can remain important regardless of age, disability, illness or care needs, and explains their connection with dignity, private life and human rights. Learners will also consider why support should reflect individual preferences rather than stereotypes or assumptions.
Module 2: Rights, Privacy, Choice and Personal Relationships
Learners will examine what the right to a private and personal life means within a care setting. The module covers private time, communication, relationships and personal choice, alongside the need to consider consent, capacity, safety and the rights of others. It also explores practical ways services can plan for privacy, record agreed support, respect personal boundaries and review arrangements when circumstances change, while ensuring any restrictions are justified and proportionate.
Module 3: Dementia and Changes in Sexual Expression
Learners will consider how dementia may affect memory, recognition, communication, inhibition and the expression of intimacy or sexual needs. The module examines possible explanations for changed behaviour, including a need for connection, lack of privacy, discomfort, confusion and difficulty communicating. It also provides a dignity-preserving approach to responding calmly, protecting privacy, using respectful redirection, identifying possible causes and seeking further advice when changes are repeated, sudden or concerning.
Module 4: Responding When Sexual Behaviour Affects Others
Learners will explore situations in which sexual expression may affect other people, including public behaviour, exposure, unwanted comments, propositions, gestures or touching. The module explains how to protect privacy and safety, communicate clear boundaries, redirect appropriately and support anyone affected. Learners will also consider when repeated or escalating behaviour requires management, clinical or safeguarding input rather than being managed informally by individual staff.
Module 5: Supporting Privacy, Couples and Changing Relationships
Learners will examine practical ways to make privacy part of ordinary person-centred care, including respecting closed doors, arranging private time and planning routines around agreed preferences where possible. The module explores how established couples can maintain companionship, shared routines and intimacy when care needs change. It also considers new relationships and explains how staff can respect capable adult choices while remaining alert to questions about consent, coercion, capacity and safety.
Module 6: Professional Attitudes, Communication and Boundaries
Learners will reflect on how personal beliefs, cultural attitudes and unexamined assumptions can influence responses to sexuality and relationships. The module explains the importance of respectful language, confidentiality, non-judgemental communication and avoiding gossip, ridicule or intrusive questioning. It also establishes clear professional boundaries between staff and people receiving care and identifies appropriate management, safeguarding and whistleblowing routes when staff conduct or complex situations cause concern.
Module 7: Consent and Mental Capacity
Learners will develop an understanding of consent as a freely given, specific and continuing agreement that can be withdrawn at any time. The module explains relevant principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, including the presumption of capacity, supporting people to make decisions, decision-specific assessment and the right to make choices others consider unwise. Learners will also understand that another person cannot provide sexual consent on an adult’s behalf and that consent to sexual relations cannot be made through a best-interests decision.
Module 8: Safeguarding, Autonomy and Protection from Harm
Learners will identify when sexual behaviour or relationships may create safeguarding concerns, including unwanted sexual contact, harassment, coercion, exploitation and situations where a person may be unable to consent. The module considers how to distinguish consensual adult choices from abuse, balance autonomy with protection and avoid unnecessary blanket restrictions. It also explains how staff should respond to concerns by considering immediate safety, listening calmly, making factual records, reporting promptly and avoiding attempts to conduct their own investigation.
Target Audience
This course is suitable for:
- Care workers and support workers providing direct care to adults.
- Staff working in residential care, supported living and similar care environments.
- Senior care workers, team leaders and supervisors.
- Managers responsible for person-centred care, safeguarding or staff practice.
- Health and social care staff supporting older people or adults with disabilities.
- Workers supporting people living with dementia or cognitive impairment.
No previous specialist knowledge is required.
FAQ
Who is this course suitable for?
This course is suitable for health and social care workers who support adults and may encounter questions involving sexuality, intimacy, relationships, privacy, consent or sexual expression. It is relevant to frontline staff as well as senior workers, supervisors and managers.
Do I need any previous experience?
No specialist knowledge of sexuality, mental capacity or safeguarding law is required. The course introduces the key principles in clear language and relates them to situations that may arise in everyday care practice.
What will I learn on the sexuality, intimacy and relationships course?
You will learn about sexuality and intimacy as parts of adult life, dignity and human rights, privacy, supporting relationships, dementia and changed sexual expression, professional boundaries, consent, mental capacity and safeguarding.
Will this course help with day-to-day practice?
Yes. The course focuses on practical care situations, including respecting private time, responding to changed or unwanted sexual behaviour, supporting couples, discussing sensitive subjects professionally and knowing when a concern needs to be escalated.
Does the course cover practical skills?
The course develops practical decision-making and communication skills rather than physical care techniques. It covers approaches such as protecting privacy, setting respectful boundaries, redirecting behaviour, recording concerns accurately and seeking appropriate support.
Does it cover consent and the Mental Capacity Act?
Yes. The course explains consent in relation to sexual activity and introduces relevant Mental Capacity Act 2005 principles for England and Wales. It also explains why relatives, attorneys, deputies or staff cannot provide sexual consent on another adult’s behalf.
Does the course cover safeguarding concerns?
Yes. Learners will consider signs of unwanted sexual contact, coercion, exploitation and inability to consent, as well as how to balance protection from harm with an adult’s autonomy, privacy and right to make personal choices.
How long does the course take?
The course is self-paced and usually takes around 1 hour to complete.
Will I receive a certificate?
Yes. A certificate is issued after successful completion.
Sexuality, intimacy and relationships require staff to combine respect for adult choice with clear professional judgement about consent, dignity, privacy and safety. This course provides a structured foundation for supporting people sensitively while recognising situations that require further assessment, management or safeguarding action.
Enrol now to build your understanding of sexuality, intimacy and relationships in care settings.
