The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Consultation on Sexual Function among Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Sexual dysfunction is one of the commonest causes of family breakdown. In recent years, various approaches have been proposed to resolve this conflict. Given the negative effects of sexual dysfunction on women and its complications, the present study was carried out in order to examine the effect of cognitive-behavioral consultation on sexual function among women who had referred to health centers in Hamadan.
The present study was a randomized clinical trial including two groups, a pretest, and a posttest. It focused on 198 qualified women who had referred to selected health centers of Hamadan in 2016. The intervention group received four 2-hour sessions of cognitive-behavioral group consultation. The required data were collected using a questionnaire of demographic characteristics and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). To analyze the collected data, SPSS 21.0 was employed; t-test was used for independent samples. ANCOVA was also utilized. Significance level was set at 0.05.
The results of the present study showed that the two groups were not significantly different in terms of mean pretest scores in all domain, except for sexual satisfaction and total sexual function .However, after cognitive-behavioral consultation sessions, the intervention group experienced a significant increase in all behavioral domains and total sexual function compared to the control group (pCognitive-behavioral consultation among women can play a positive and effective role in improving sexual relationships. Therefore, the effectiveness of this type of consultation can be confirmed with more certainty.