Effect of Educational Counseling on Knowledge and Attitude of Pregnant Women Towards Sex During Pregnancy

Background: Insufficient information about sex during pregnancy as well as negative attitude towards it may lead to serious problems in the couple’s communication and sexual relationship. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of educational counselling on sexual knowledge and attitude of pregnant women during 2014-2015. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 200 pregnant women referred to 5 health care centers in Kerman. The random allocation method was used to assign mothers to intervention (n=100) and control (n=100) groups. Data were collected by demographic information, sexual knowledge, and attitude questionnaires. Data were analyzed by paired and independent t test, Fisher exact test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation tests in SPSS software version 22.0. Results: The mean scores of sexual knowledge and attitude before educational counselling in intervention group were 33.7±15.44 and 50.09±10.88, respectively. Before the intervention, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in knowledge and attitude. One month after the counselling, the mean scores of knowledge and attitude in the intervention and control groups were respectively 79.03±8.71 and 67.88±8.62, indicating a significant difference (P<0.0001). Conclusion: The results of this study confirmed the positive role of counseling and education in increasing knowledge and creating positive attitude towards sexual relationships in pregnant women.