Sexual dysfunction and help seeking behaviors in newly married women in Sari, Iran: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective (s): Sexual function has interaction with health and may significantly interfere with health. This study aimed to determine the status of sexual function and help seeking behaviors in newly married women in Sari, Iran Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 363 newly married women in year 2013-2014. A selected randomly selected attending health center of Sari entered into the study. The data were collected by Sexual Function (ASEX), help seeking behaviors and socio-demographic questionnaires. One way analysis of variance, general liner model and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: The mean score of sexual function was 14.5 (SD: 4.9) of the attainable range score of 5-30. Prevalence of sexual dysfunction was 21.2%. The highest disorder (16%) was for orgasm and lowest (3.6%) for desire dimension. There was statistical significant relationship between exercise, income and living with family with sexual function in women (p<0.05). Only 41% of women had sought help and 82% of them had refereed to gynecologist. The most cause of not seeking help was “I am ashamed to speak about it”. 61% of women desired for therapy. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that the sexual dysfunction is almost prevalent in women and most do not request help. Indeed determining causes of not seeking help seems necessary.

Keywords

• sexual dysfunction
• help seeking behaviors
• newly married women