The effect of narrative therapy on sexual self-efficacy and sexual quality of life in women

Sexual self-efficacy is one of the most important issues for having a sexual quality of life. The present study was conducted with the aim of assessing the effect of narrative therapy on sexual self-efficacy and sexual quality of life in women.
This semi-experimental study was conducted on 82 women in reproductive age. Among comprehensive health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran, two centers were randomly selected. Then, 82 women were selected according to the inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups ( n= 41 per each group). In the intervention group, narrative therapy was performed during four 90-minute sessions. The control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using the standard sexual self-efficacy questionnaire (SSEQ) and the sexual quality of life questionnaire (SQOL-F), before and one month after the intervention. Data analysis was done using mean and standard deviation, number and percentage, independent and paired t-test, Mann-Whitney and Fisher.
There was no significant difference between the intervention and control group in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics. Before the intervention, sexual self-efficacy was not significantly different in the intervention 11.92(2.06) and the control group 12.63(3.42) (P=0.24); However, after the intervention this difference was significant between the intervention 20.31(5.18) and control group 13.39(2.87) (P=0.001). Before the intervention, the sexual quality of life in the intervention 68.02(8.75) and the control group 68.73(8.47) was not significantly different (P=0.71); but after the intervention, a significant difference was observed between the intervention 75.56(7.89) and the control group 60.29(10.21)(P<0.001). Also, the analysis showed that the sexual self-efficacy and sexual quality of life in the intervention group had a significant difference (P<0.0001) before and after the intervention, while this difference was not significant in the control group.
It seems that applying narrative therapy is an effective approach to improve sexual self-efficacy and the sexual quality of life of women.