Trial reportBMC women's health2025
Effects of sexual counseling and education based on self-efficacy theory on the sexual function of women with breast cancer.
Trial report in BMC women's health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Meta-analysis of the effect of sexual health nursing interventions on improving post-treatment sexual dysfunction and partner relationship satisfaction in breast cancer patients.Sexual medicine · 2026Review
- Self-efficacy in the managing late sequelae in long-term breast cancer survivors in Spain.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Impact of LHRHa Therapy on Relationship Dynamics and Sexual Coercion in Premenopausal Breast Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGiven the negative impact of breast cancer and its treatment on women's self-efficacy in various areas, including sexual function, investigating and understanding ways to enhance sexual function is crucial. The current study aimed to examine the impact of sexual counseling and education based on self-efficacy theory on the sexual function of women with breast cancer.
methodThe trial was a randomized controlled trial with a parallel design, including a pre-test, post-test, and one-month follow-up. Fifty married breast cancer survivors, having a disorder in at least one domain of sexual function (score below 3.9) and meeting other research criteria, visited clinics and hematology departments of hospitals in Bushehr (a city in southern Iran) between 2023 and 2024 were purposefully selected and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups using block randomization. The intervention group received two educational sessions and three counseling sessions based on the self-efficacy theory. Data collection utilized demographic information forms and a sexual function index for women, which consists of 19 questions that assess six domains of women's sexual function (desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain during intercourse) over a period of 4 weeks and completed by participants during the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency) and analytical tests, including the independent t-test, Mann‒Whitney U test, Chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test and repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc LSD test were used for data analysis, considering a significance level of less than 0.05 in all cases.
resultThe mean age of patients in the intervention and control groups was 44.42 ± 4.88 and 43.44 ± 5.20, respectively. The two groups did not have statistically significant differences in demographic and disease-related variables (P > 0.05). An independent t-test showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the average pre-test sexual function score and its domains (P > 0.05). Changes in overall sexual function and the arousal, orgasm, lubrication, and satisfaction domains from pre-test to post-test and from pre-test to follow-up increased in the intervention group and decreased in the control group, with statistically significant differences between the two groups (P < 0.05). However, the average changes from post-test to follow-up were not statistically significant between the two groups.
conclusionThe total FSFI scores and most of its domains in the intervention group were higher than those in the control group, which can be attributed to the impact of sexual education and counseling. Therefore, the use of this non-invasive, cost-effective, and straightforward method along with other medical approaches is recommended.
trial registrationIRCT20231102059930N1, 4 December 2023, Prospectively registered, at http//www.irct.ir.
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