The Effect of Sexual Education based on Sexual Health Model on the Sexual Function of Women with Infertility

BACKGROUND: Infertility has deep psychological impacts on the sexual function of women such as a sense of fear, failure, and incompetence. It can also result in reduced sexual desire, unattained orgasm, and other sexual disorders. However, sexual education is assumed to improve the sexual function in these cases. Therefore, we study the effect of sexual education based on Sexual Health Model (SHM) on sexual function disorders in women with infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A singleblind, randomized controlled trial was conducted on 108 women with infertility (54 intervention group and 54 control group) aged between 18 and 40 years at the Milad Infertility Center of Mashhad in 2016. The intervention comprised three 90-min sessions administered during 1 week. At first, a pretest (Female Sexual Function Index [FSFI]) was completed, and 1 month after the end of the intervention, the posttest (FSFI) was completed. To analyze the data, independent t-test, Mann–Whitney test, and Wilcoxon test were run. RESULTS: The mean (Standard Deviation [SD]) age of women and their spouses was 30.61 (5.42) and 34.42 (5.73)years, respectively. Results of Mann–Whitney test showed that after 1 month of intervention, there was a significant difference between intervention and control groups (Z = −4.87, p < 0.001). Moreover, results of Wilcoxon test showed a significant difference in the sexual function in the intervention group before and after the intervention (Z = 2.81, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Given the positive effects of SHM-based sexual education, this method could be considered as a subset of sexual education materials used for women with infertility suffering from sexual disorders.