Introduction

During pregnancy, sexual distress is common, but its prevalence and underlying factors require elucidation. This study was performed to investigate sexual distress in pregnant women.

Methods

This research was designed as a descriptive and multi-center study. The study included 2365 pregnant women from 6 geographical regions of Turkey between April 1, 2022, and February 1, 2023. Data was collected using the “Pregnant Information Form” and “Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (FDS-R).” Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, analysis of variance, and the Pearson correlation test were used for data analysis.

Results

Herein, 46.1% of pregnant women experienced sexual distress, and the mean FDS-R score of the study participants was 14.49. Participants who were dissatisfied with their sexual life before and during pregnancy (p < 0.001), those who did not have sexual intercourse during pregnancy (p < 0.001), those who experienced decreased sexual desire during pregnancy (p < 0.001), those who did not receive sexual education during pregnancy (p < 0.001), and those who experienced problems when engaging in sexual intercourse during pregnancy (p < 0.001) experienced more sexual distress. Sexual distress increased when the mean age and the number of pregnancies and children increased, whereas it decreased when the gestational week increased.

Conclusions

Approximately half of the pregnant women included in the study experienced sexual distress. The findings highlight the importance of midwives and nurses encouraging pregnant women to discuss their sexuality.

Policy implications

The findings of this study show that sexual distress during pregnancy is common and affected by some factors related to personal and sexual life during pregnancy. This result provides evidence of the need to develop culturally appropriate interventions and policies that include sexual partners in the context of improving pregnant women's sexual distress, sexual health, good family relationships and mental health.

中文翻译：

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孕妇性困扰的调查：土耳其多中心研究

介绍

怀孕期间，性困扰很常见，但其患病率和潜在因素需要阐明。这项研究的目的是调查孕妇的性困扰。

方法

这项研究被设计为描述性多中心研究。该研究纳入了2022年4月1日至2023年2月1日期间来自土耳其6个地理区域的2365名孕妇。数据是使用“怀孕信息表”和“修订版女性性困扰量表（FDS-R）”收集的。数据分析采用描述性统计、独立样本t检验、方差分析和Pearson相关性检验。

结果

其中，46.1%的孕妇经历过性困扰，研究参与者的平均FDS-R得分为14.49。怀孕前和怀孕期间对性生活不满意的参与者 ( p  < 0.001)、怀孕期间没有性交的参与者 ( p  < 0.001)、怀孕期间性欲下降的参与者 ( p  < 0.001)、有过性交的参与者怀孕期间没有接受过性教育的人（p  < 0.001），而那些在怀孕期间发生性交问题的人（p  < 0.001）则经历了更多的性困扰。当平均年龄以及怀孕和儿童数量增加时，性困扰就会增加，而当孕周增加时，性困扰就会减少。

结论

研究中大约一半的孕妇经历过性困扰。研究结果强调了助产士和护士鼓励孕妇讨论自己的性取向的重要性。

政策影响

这项研究的结果表明，怀孕期间的性困扰很常见，并且受到怀孕期间个人和性生活相关的一些因素的影响。这一结果证明需要制定文化上适当的干预措施和政策，将性伴侣纳入其中，以改善孕妇的性困扰、性健康、良好的家庭关系和心理健康。