Evaluating the effectiveness of group and telephone counseling on sexual function after childbirth

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth is a definite period of a woman s life that is associated with hormonal and physical changes in a person. These changes can have significant effects on the performance and sexual satisfaction of the individual. So far, sexual health counseling by telephone has not been conducted in Iran.Objective: This study was aimed at the effect of group and telephone counseling on sexual function of lactating women.Materials and Methods: This study was performed in 2017 on 54 women aged 18-45 years old in Yazd health care centers between 3 and 6 months after delivery. Entry criteria includes married Iranian Muslim women who are at least 18 years of age whose first marriage was the sole wife of a person and lived side by side, primiparous, have a lactation, their child is healthy, monogamous, terminated, due to normal delivery, access Was on the phone. The research units who entered the study were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention group and telephone counseling and control groups before the completion of the questionnaires. Demographic characteristics, and Sexual Function Questionnaire (FSFI) were used. The intervention group received 5 counseling sessions within 5 weeks with a one-week interval. Immediately after the end of the intervention and one month later, the sexual function questionnaire was again distributed and the results were evaluated. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 16).Results: The results showed no significant difference between the variables in two groups. The comparison between the intervention group and the control group showed significant increases in sexual function score (p<0.05).Conclusion: The results of the study showed that group counseling and telephone counseling were effective, but telephone counseling was more effective. Therefore, it is recommended that the midwife counselor in the field of sexual health be able to serve women during postpartum and breastfeeding.

Keywords:

Sexual health , Sexual satisfaction , Sexual function , Postpartum period