Determination of Sexual Distress Levels and Affecting Factors of Pregnancy

Abstract

Background: Although sexual problems are common during pregnancy, the rates of sexual distress are not known clearly. Objective: The research was carried out to determine the sexual distress levels of pregnant women and the affecting factors. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional research was conducted with 459 pregnant women in the Pregnancy Education Class of the Midwifery Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, located in a medical center between 01 March-31 May 2021. The data were collected with “The Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (FSDS-R)”. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney-U test and Kruskal- Wallis test were used in the analysis of the data. Results: The mean age of the pregnant women was 28.68±5.552. It was determined that the median FSDS-R scores of the pregnant women were 7.0 (2.0-16.0) and according to the mean FSDS-R scores, 34.6% of the pregnant women experienced sexual distress. A statistically significant difference was found between the age, education level, trimester, some views of the pregnant women about sexuality and the median scores of FSDS-R of the pregnant women (p<.05). Conclusion: In the study, it was determined that sexual distress levels were higher in pregnant women who were under 30 years of age, had a secondary education level, and were in the first trimester of pregnancy. In addition, sexual distress levels were found to be higher in pregnant women who thought that “sexual intercourse during pregnancy may harm the baby”, “sexual intercourse during pregnancy is a source of stress for women” and “sexual intercourse during pregnancy may cause miscarriage”. © 2023, Dokuz Eylul University. All rights reserved.