Department of Reproductive Health and Midwifery, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Int J Community Based Nurs Midwifery. 2022 Jul;10(3):223-233. doi: 10.30476/IJCBNM.2021.91530.1793.
Sexual life can be affected through different aspects of living with diabetes. This study aimed to explore the perception and experiences of Iranian women with diabetes at reproductive age regarding the impact of diabetes on their sexual life.
This qualitative study was conducted from August 2018 to February 2019 in five diabetes centers in Tehran. Purposeful sampling method was used to select the participants, and data were collected by in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed manually using the conventional content analysis method. Data saturation occurred after interviewing 24 women with diabetes.
Three themes were identified. The first theme was "diabetes-related threatened sexual life" with three categories: change in sexual functioning, negative sexual self-evaluation, and concern in sexual relationships. The second theme was "diabetes treatment challenges in sexual life," which included two categories: adverse effects of diabetes treatment in sexual life and the psychosocial distress related to diabetes treatment. "Couples' relationship adjustment to diabetes," was identified as the third theme, including four categories: the need for spouse's understanding of living with diabetes problems, perceived need for spouse's support, perceived need for intimacy, and the need to cope with diabetes-related childbearing challenges.
According to the participants' perception and experiences, in addition to sexual problems, diabetes had affected their sexual life through diabetes treatment challenges in sexual life and the way the couples' relationships adjust to diabetes. Therefore, sexual problems screening and providing counseling services in community-based diabetes care planning are recommended.
性生活可能会受到与糖尿病相关的多个方面的影响。本研究旨在探讨伊朗生育年龄的女性对糖尿病影响其性生活的感知和体验。
本定性研究于 2018 年 8 月至 2019 年 2 月在德黑兰的五个糖尿病中心进行。采用目的抽样法选择参与者，通过深入的半结构化访谈收集数据。采用常规内容分析法手动分析数据。对 24 名糖尿病女性进行访谈后，达到数据饱和。
确定了三个主题。第一个主题是“与糖尿病相关的威胁性生活”，包括三个类别：性功能改变、负面的性自我评估和对性关系的担忧。第二个主题是“性生活中糖尿病治疗的挑战”，包括两个类别：糖尿病治疗对性生活的不良影响和与糖尿病治疗相关的心理困扰。“夫妻关系对糖尿病的调整”被确定为第三个主题，包括四个类别：配偶理解与糖尿病问题共存的需求、配偶支持的感知需求、亲密感的感知需求以及应对与糖尿病相关的生育挑战的需求。
根据参与者的感知和体验，除了性问题之外，糖尿病还通过性生活中糖尿病治疗的挑战以及夫妻关系调整的方式影响了她们的性生活。因此，建议在社区为基础的糖尿病护理计划中进行性问题筛查和提供咨询服务。
