Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Sexual Counseling on Female Sexual Function During Pregnancy: An Interventional Study

Pregnancy significantly affects sexual performance due to the occurrence of biological, psychological, and physiological changes in women. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of cognitive-behavioral approach to sexual counseling on the female sexual performance during pregnancy.
This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 100 pregnant women referred to the clinics of Arak, Iran. The participants were selected using single-stage cluster sampling technique. The data were collected using the standard sexual function questionnaire and a researcher-made questionnaire, which was related to the misbeliefs about sexual intercourse during pregnancy (MSIP). The subjects were randomly allocated to the intervention and control groups using randomized blocks. The intervention group was provided with seven 90-minute counseling sessions, whereas the control group only received the routine information provided by the healthcare staff. The data analysis was performed using the student’s t test, chi-square test, and paired t test in the SPSS software version 16.0.
According to the results, out of 100 subjects, 22 cases received the sexual function score of It seems that the cognitive-behavioral sexual counseling did not significantly improve the sexual function by teaching about misconceptions and facilitating behaviors to deal with the problems of pregnancy. In other words, consultation resulted in no biological or psychological changes and could not promote the sexual performance of the participants. However, the subjects reported increased sexual satisfaction after the counseling sessions.