Farzaneh Karimi - Master’s (MSc) in Midwifery, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
Raheleh Babazadeh - PhD in Reproductive Health, Assistant Professor, Department of Midwifery,School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran.
Robab Latifnejad Roudsari - PhD in Reproductive Health, Associate Professor, Evidence-Based Care Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
Negar Asgharipour - PhD in Clinical Psychology, Assistant Professor, Psychiatric and Behavioral Sciences Research Center,Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran

Objective: the purpose of this study was to test: the BETTER counseling model is more effectiveness in terms of improving postpartum sexual functioning after giving birth compared to the PLISSIT model. Methods: This clinical trial was performed on 80 women in 2017 within the period of 4 weeks to 6 months following childbirth. The study subjects were randomly assigned to two groups of PLISSIT and BETTER and attended two counseling sessions with a 1week interval. The research instruments also included a demographic and sexual characteristics information questionnaire and female sexual function index (FSFI). The sexual functioning was evaluated in two stages before and 4 weeks after the interventions, the data analysis was conducted using the SPSS (24) with independent t-test, paired t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test and considering a significance level of 0.05. Results: The mean and the standard deviation of the sexual functioning total score after the intervention in the PLISSIT group were by 56.2±6.4 and in the BETTER group were also reported by 60.2±7.9, the results of paired t-test showed that such a difference was significant (p=0.016). Conclusion: the BETTER counseling model compared to the PLISSIT one is the more effectiveness in terms of improving postpartum sexual functioning after postpartum

Counseling, PLISSIT, BETTER, Sexual Functioning, Postpartum