The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural consultation on sexual function and sexual self-efficacy of women after childbirth

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the cognitive-behavioral therapy program (CBT) on the sexual function and sexual self-efficacy of 100 women after childbearing. METHODS: In this experimental pretest-posttest and control group design study, women who passed eight weeks of their delivery and were referred to three health centers, in Shadegan, Iran, from January to April 2019 registered using the simple sampling method and randomly allocated into two groups of case and control. For the CBT group eight weeks of counseling (one session/week), and for the control group, routine educations were provided by health care providers. Both groups filled out the female sexual function index and sexual self-efficacy questionnaires before intervention and eight weeks after the last session. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the CBT and control groups before the intervention in terms of sexual function and sexual self-efficacy, but eight weeks after the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Proper implementation of counseling based on the CBT model improved sexual function and self-efficacy of nulliparous women after childbirth.