THE IMPACT OF BIOENERGY ECONOMY-BASED AND COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY ON SEXUAL SATISFACTION AND SEXUAL ASSERTIVENESS OF WOMEN

Sexual health is one of the most important aspects of marital satisfaction. Sexual satisfaction and sexual assertiveness are among the components of sexual health that can cause many problems in married people. The present study was conducted to compare bioenergy economy-based program and cognitive-behavioral therapy on sexual satisfaction and sexual assertiveness of women.

This semi-experimental study had a pre-test, post-test design with control group and follow-up period. The research population was married women aged 20 to 40 referred to counseling centers in Tehran's 7th district in 2021. Forty-five people were selected using convenience sampling, and randomly assigned to three groups of 15 each (two intervention groups and one control group). The intervention groups received cognitive behavioral therapy and treatment based on bioenergy economy for eight sessions of 90 minutes (once a week). Larson's sexual satisfaction questionnaires (1998) and Hurlbert's sexual satisfaction index (1992) were used as research tools. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 25 software using repeated measures ANOVA, considering the significance level 0.05.

The results showed that cognitive behavioral therapy and bioenergy economy- based program significantly improved sexual satisfaction and sexual assertiveness (P<0.05). The results of Ben Feroni's post hoc test showed that the effects of both treatments were stable in the follow-up period (P > 0.05), and there was no significant difference between the two approaches, regarding their effectiveness on women's sexual assertiveness and sexual satisfaction (P > 0.05).

To improve women's health and sexual satisfaction, cognitive behavioral therapy and bioenergy economy program can be used.