Women’s Health Bulletin
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Oct 2019

The purpose of this study was to review the sources and studies on couple’s sexual satisfaction and the related factors.

 A systematic review was used in this study. The literature was searched in the following Iranian electronic databases: Google scholar, Iran Medex, Magiran, Scientific Information Database (SID), Iranian Research Institute for Information Science (IRANDOC), Novin Pajouh, and Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC). After analysis of 117 papers and exclusion of irrelevant articles, 35 full texts were assessed and finally 22 articles were selected for analysis.

The related factors of sexual satisfaction were classified into five groups: physiological, physical, psychological, personal and demographic, communication, and social factors. Most studies are focused on examining the impact of different therapeutic and counseling approaches and few studies are concentrated on the role of macro-structural, social, religious, and cultural factors.

Identifying factors related to sexual satisfaction from different social, religious, cultural, personal, and communicative dimensions help to better understand the subject and guide people for a more sustainable life.

Toxoplasma gondii and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can cause a range of diseases in pregnant women and may lead to adverse fetal outcomes. Therefore, the detection of these infections is necessary during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma and Cytomegalovirus infections among the pregnant women with history of abortion in Zakho city, Iraq.
Over a period of five years (2014-2018), blood samples were collected from 500 subjects aged 16-45 years old and tested to identify the presence of specific IgG and IgM to Toxoplasma and CMV infections by Enzyme Linked Fluorescent Assay (ELFA) method.
Of 500 pregnant women, 145 (29%) and 7 (1.8%) were seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM, respectively. IgG seropositivityto T. gondii infection varied significantly between age groups (P=0.05). Additionally, the seroprevalence of IgG and IgM antibodies for CMV was 475 (95%) and 9 (1.8%), respectively. Estimation of age specific subgroups showed high CMV IgG seropositivity rates for all age groups with no significant difference between them. Altogether, 145 cases were verified seropositive for specific IgG antibody against both pathogens and only 2 cases were positive for specific IgM against both agents.
Anti-Toxoplasma and CMV IgG and IgM antibodies positivity rates among pregnant women determined in the present study are quite similar as compared to other studies reported in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Though, infection with those pathogens is not a major cause of abortion; it is useful to screen women with recurrent abortion for such infections in order to avoid undesirable fetal outcomes and other serious complications.

Waterobics is a physical exercise with very few effects on the joints, hence its attractiveness for weight loss in obese middle-aged people. This study was intended to evaluate the body mass, body composition, and coronary risk profile in sedentary obese middle-aged women in response to exercise-related time (continuous and at intervals) in waterobics programs. This prospective experimental research was conducted in 2018. Forty women with sedentary lifestyles (mean age 50.7±4.7 years) were selected and distributed randomly into two groups: high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderateintensitycontinuous training (MICT). Both programs consisted of waterobics exercises with similar energy expenditures (1500 kcal per week), implemented over three 60-minute sessions per week for three months. Before and after the study, anthropometry,body composition, and coronary risk profile were assessed. Non-parametric Wilcoxon test was used for group comparison(before and after). Before-after comparison of the parameters showed a significant decrease in body mass (-0.8 kg, P=0.04), BMI (-0.4 kg/m2, P=0.02), fatty mass (-0.6 kg, P=0.03), and hip circumference (-4.2 cm, P=0.04) of the MICT, and a significant reduction in fatmass (-0.7 kg, P=0.03) in the HIIT. No significant differences were observed concerning the T-C, LDL-C, and HDL-C between the MICT (respectively, P=0.23; P=0.1; P=0.08) and HIIT (respectively, P=0.1; P= 0.06; P=0.14) groups. Waterobics programs without nutritional monitoring showed moderate effects on the body mass and body composition of sedentary obese middle-aged women. The HIIT group exhibited better, yet insignificant, results with regards to the coronary risk profile.

Betrayal and marital infidelity are a kind of disorder and illness in behavior, which, due to its adverse effects, causes various injuries and problems for each person. This study aimed to determine the effect of training, based on cognitivebehavioral group therapy (CBGT), on depression and coping styles of women exposed to infidelity of a spouse, of course, the marital infidelity did not continue. This research was quasi-experimental, including pretest-posttest and control group. The population consisted of all women seeking psychological services due to the infidelity of their husbands during the second half of the Iranian year (from late September to late March) in 2017. Twenty two volunteers who met the requirements of the study were selected and randomly divided into two groups, experimental group (11 patients) and control group (11 patients). The experimental group participated in the 8th sessions (once a week, for 90 minutes) of CBGT. Subjects in both groups were asked to take a pre-test and post-test, responding to Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations Questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 13. To analyze the data, the descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance test were used. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of depression (54.10±5.3) and coping styles in the experimental group comparing with the post-test (P<0.001). The mean of problem-focused coping (09.58±35.7) of the experimental group increased in the post-test compared with the pre-test and the mean of the experimental group’s avoidance coping (90.48±88.4) and emotion-focused coping (25.41±59.11) decreased in the post-test compared with the pre-test. Thus, CBGT reduces depression and the use of ineffective coping styles (emotional and avoidance-coping styles), as well as, increasing the use of effective coping style (problem-focused coping style) in women after the marital infidelity of their spouses. It can be concluded that the implementation of CBGT has affected women after the marital infidelity of the spouse, which was 0.61 and created by an independent variable intervention. Also, the statistical power was 0.99. According to the results, it can be concluded that training, which is based on CBGT can improve depression and coping styles in women who exposed to infidelity of a spouse. It is suggested that counselors and psychologists use CBGT in dealing with women after the marital infidelity of their spouses. This way can help reduce their depression, behavioral abnormalities, and also improve coping styles.

Quality of life is a multidimensional and dynamic concept that can be assessed based on the differences between expectations and reality level. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of social anxiety in the causal relationships of alexithymia and social intelligence with the quality of life in women-headed household in Ahvaz.

The research design was causal-correlational and had a field type. A total of 261 women-headed household were selected from Ahvaz City by convenience sampling. The research instrument included World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Short Form, Ahvaz Alexithymia scale (AAS- 26 questions), Tromso Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS), and Jerabek Social Anxiety Scale. Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s correlation, and path analysis. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 24.

A direct and positive relationship was observed between social intelligence and quality of life (β=0.152, P=0.003) and between alexithymia and social anxiety (β=0.245, P=0.001). There was a direct and negative relationship between social anxiety and quality of life (β=-0.618, P=0.001). There was no direct and significant relationship between alexithymia and quality of life (β=0.043, P=0.417). The path analysis results indicated that social anxiety had a mediating role in the relationship between alexithymia and quality of life (β=-0.246, P=0.001) as well as the relationship between social intelligence and quality of life (β=- 0.275, P=0.001).

Social anxiety plays an important role in the relationship between social intelligence, alexithymia, and quality of life.

Previous research has documented bidirectional associations between age at childbirth and socioeconomic status (SES) among mothers. Built on the Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory, this study compares the association between maternal age at childbirth and income between non-Hispanic Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites.

We used the data of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal study from 1998 to 2016 in the United States (US). This study included 2922 women who were non-Hispanic White (n=776) or non-Hispanic Black (n=2146). Maternal age at childbirth was the independent variable, and income was the dependent variable. Educational attainment, marital status, delivery characteristics, car ownership, and welfare dependence were the covariates. For data analysis, linear regressions were applied.

Higher maternal age at childbirth was associated with higher income (adjusted b=0.30). We found a significant interaction between maternal age at childbirth and race on income, suggesting that the positive association between mothers’ age at childbirth and income was weaker for non-Hispanic Blacks than non-Hispanic Whites (b=-1.14, 95% CI=-1.50, -0.77).

Postponing childbirth may have a smaller economic return for non-Hispanic Black women, which is in line with Marginalization-related Diminished Returns theory. Diminished returns of postponing reproduction may be a result of social stratification and structural inequalities that separate the lived experience of Blacks and Whites in the United States.