Effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on sexual function and sexual self-efficacy in pregnant women: An RCT

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the ways to improve an undesirable sexual function.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of CBT on the sexual function and sexual self-efficacy of pregnant women.

This study was a randomized controlled trial conducted on pregnant women receiving prenatal care at the health centers in Ahvaz, Iran, from December 2016 to January 2017. In total, 60 pregnant women were randomly recruited from 5 health centers through stratified random sampling. Finally, 36 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received counseling based on cognitive behavioral therapy for 8 consecutive weeks and the control group received the routine training provided by healthcare staff. Two and four weeks after the end of sessions, both groups completed the Female Sexual Function Index and self-efficacy questionnaires again.

The mean of sexual function score and self-efficacy score in pregnant women in the case and control groups before the intervention did not show a significant difference (p=0.56). The mean of sexual function score and self-efficacy score of pregnant women in the case and control groups was statistically significant 2 and 4 wk after intervention (p≤0.0001).

The results of this study showed that counseling based on CBT in comparison with the routine training during pregnancy improves the sexual performance and self-efficacy of pregnant women.