Mahshid Bokaie, Samira Hajimaghsoudi, Ali Dehghani, Fatemeh Hosseini

Abstract

Introduction: Postpartum remaining changes can have a significant effect on the satisfaction and sexual function of an individual. Thus, the current study has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of sexual health counseling on the satisfaction and sexual function of breastfeeding women. Methodology: The current research was a parallel randomized controlled clinical trial. The studied sample consisted of 79 breastfeeding women passing 3-6 months since their delivery. The samples were divided randomly into three groups, two intervention groups (group counseling and telephone counseling) and a control group. The counseling group received 5 consecutive 90-120-minute counseling sessions once a week, and the telephone counseling group received 5 weekly 20-45-minute phone calls and the control group remained without intervention until the completion of the follow-up. To collect the data, demographic and midwifery information questionnaires, Women's Sexual Function Questionnaire and Larsson's Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire were used. The participants’ sexual satisfaction and sexual function were weighed in the three stages of before, immediately after the intervention and one month after the intervention. The results were analyzed by the means of parametric and non-parametric tests through SPSS software (ver. 16) having the significance level less than 0.05. Findings: The mean sexual satisfaction score immediately and one month after the intervention in both intervention groups had a significant difference. The mean score of sexual function immediately and one month after intervention in both interventional groups had a significant difference. Conclusion: Regarding the results of the current research, sexual health counseling by the means of group counseling and telephone counseling methods improved the satisfaction and sexual function of breastfeeding women. Consequently, it is suggested that a midwifery advisor leading in the field of sexual health could serve women during postpartum and breastfeeding periods.