Post-sterilization regret rate in sterilized women referring to Tabriz health centers

One of the effective methods in family planning is sterilization of women. However, some women who choose this method may later suffer from a neurotic syndrome, which is demonstrated by pain, depression, hypochondriasis and loss of libido. With respect to the long-term psychological sequelae of sterilization, among which post-operation regret tops the rest, this study was designed to determine post-operation regret rates, request for reversal and attempt to reverse the operation, as well as secondary objectives, rates of depression and anxiety.

The study design was a descriptive-analytical one, in which 150 steri-lized women, who had been operated 1-10 years prior to the study, were selected through cluster random sampling. Data collection was done by two questionnaires:1) A questionnaire on demog-raphic characteristics and post-sterilization regret and 2) Zung self-rating depression and anxiety scale. The data were analyzed by SPSS, version 11.5.

In this study, 6% of the sterilized women expressed regret and 2.7% requested a reversal surgery. None of the subjects had undergone a reversal surgery. 13.3% and 24.7% of the sterilized women had some degrees of depression and anxiety respectively. The means of depre-ssion and anxiety scores were significantly lower in women who expressed adequate post-sterilization rest (p=0.008 and p=0.02 respectively).

The results of this research, as well as personality differences and adaptability to changes, revealed that pre-sterilization counseling and post-sterilization follow-ups have an important role in women's psychological health promotion.