The Center for Sexual Health Promotion would like to congrulation Dr. Brittanni Wright, who successfully defended her dissertation on June 4th, 2024.

Understanding the Sexual Experiences of People Living with Sickle Cell Disease 

Brittanni shared about her dissertation research and how she became interested and passionate about this area of work:

"During my masters program, I drafted an intervention on mother-daughter communication about sickle cell disease. During this time, I became inquisitive about the potential connection between a sickle cell pain crisis and sexual activities. For example, when a person is living with sickle cell disease there is the potential for red blood cells to sickle causing blockages in the blood vessels. When the sickled shaped red blood cells become stuck in the blood vessels it can cause intense pain known as a pain crisis. A pain crisis can occur for a myriad of reasons. Some of the triggers for a pain crisis include experiencing a sudden change in temperature, dehydration or engaging in physical activity; any of which may occur during sexual activities. Therefore, my dissertation sought to understand how sickle cell disease impacts the sexual lives of individuals.

There were three aims for my study: 1) How do people with sickle cell disease describe their experiences with engaging in sexual activities? 2) What topics do people living with sickle cell disease want to know about regarding their sexuality and sickle cell disease? and 3) What are barriers to sexual desire among people living with sickle cell disease? Eighteen people from the United States and Canada were interviewed for this qualitative study. It was found that most people have had a pain crisis during or after engaging in solo or partnered sexual activities and many individuals had to go to the emergency room to receive care for their pain. Unfortunately, all participants stated that healthcare providers did not tell them about the potential to have a pain crisis from engaging in sexual activities. From the results of this study, I created the Sickle Cell Disease and Sexuality Framework to help clinicians and people living with sickle cell disease visualize how sickle cell disease can impact a person’s sexual life."

Brittanni's Advice to Doctoral Students Completing a Dissertation

1. Choose a topic that you are passionate about! It is true that there will be days that you are tired of writing, exhausted from conducting literature reviews and overwhelmed with the data analysis. However, I found that because I was passionate about my topic, when I was exhausted from thinking, typing and/or reading the literature, I was still motivated, because I wanted to know the answers to my research questions.

2. Go at your own speed! We all start at the same time, but we will not finish at the same time. I am using the word “finish” loosely because “finishing” looks different for everyone. For some people, “finishing” is completing the degree in three to seven years. For others, “finishing” is making the tough decision to withdraw from the PhD program.

3. It does not have to be perfect! It is true that your dissertation is a reflection of your work, but your dissertation is also a reflection of your willingness to learn how to conduct research. Therefore, your dissertation shows what you have learned thus far and demonstrates the areas that you will continue to develop. Always keep in mind that no scholar, even after 15 years, is perfect!

Where is Brittanni Now or What Are Her Next Steps?

She has accepted a postdoctoral position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Health Disparities Research Scholar! We are so excited to see what wonderful things she continues to contribute to sex-science and health promotion!