The effect of education based on the sexual self-concept model on sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem of women after childbirth

Background: pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period cause significant physical and psychological changes in mothers, these changes may have a destructive effect on women’s sexual self-concept and may decrease mother’s sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem. Therefore, this study was designed with the aim of determining the effect of education based on the sexual self-concept model on sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem of women after childbirth. Methods This parallel interventional study was conducted on 115 women who passed six weeks of their delivery and were referred to east health centers of Alborz university of medical sciences. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. Data gathering tool included Buzwell and Rosenthal’s Sexual Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SSEQ), Buzwell and Rosenthal’s sexual Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SSEQ) and demographic characteristics form. The intervention group went through six online training sessions (each session lasting 45 minutes) within one month. While the participants in the control group only received the routine postpartum care. The sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-esteem and demographic characteristics questionnaires were completed by all participants before, after and one month after the intervention. Results the findings of this study showed that, there was no significant difference in demographic characteristics, sexual self-efficacy score and sexual self-esteem score in two groups before the intervention. The result of the ANOVA with repeated measures showed that the score of sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem increased significantly over time in the intervention group immediately after participating in the training sessions and one month later. Conclusion Proper implementation of education based on the sexual self-concept model improved sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-esteem of women in the postpartum period.