The effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation program on sexual satisfaction and self-efficacy of men with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomized clinical trial study.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are more at risk of facing problems related to sexual dysfunction than their peers. This study was conducted with the aim of the effectiveness of the pulmonary rehabilitation program on the sexual satisfaction and self-efficacy of men with this disease.

The present study was a randomized clinical trial. There were 40 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who met the conditions for entering the study and were divided into two intervention and control groups using a table of random numbers. Both groups completed Hudson's sexual satisfaction (1981) and vaziri's sexual self-efficacy (2017) questionnaires. For the people in the intervention group, the pulmonary rehabilitation program of Scheermesser et al. (2021) was implemented. Both questionnaires were completed immediately and one month after the end of the intervention by the participants in both groups. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc test.

All samples were male and most of them were 45-50 years old. The average score of sexual satisfaction and sexual self-efficacy before the intervention was not significantly different in the two groups. In the intervention group, the sexual satisfaction and sexual self-efficacy scores immediately and one month after the intervention (p<0.001) were significantly higher than before the intervention.

In this study, pulmonary rehabilitation program improved the self-efficacy and sexual satisfaction of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, the implementation of these programs is suggested to improve sexual activity in these patients