Background & Aims: Infertility is a stressful condition, which could adversely affect the mental health of couples. Although the diagnosis and treatment fertility may be a frustrating crisis affecting both spouses and causing mental distress, a sense of loneliness, disappointment, and lack of control, it seems that these issues are more apparent in women than men since the physical and mental burden of infertility and the consequences of the possible failure mostly falls on women. Women (especially in eastern communities and Iranian women) live in a culture in which having a child and fertility are revered more than other communities. Even when a woman is fertile and has an infertile spouse, infertility stress is experienced similarly since regardless of the cause of infertility, the outcome is eventually is childlessness. The social stigmas experienced by infertile women become more intense when they do not enjoy familial support, causing depression in these women. Therefore, the social support of these individuals could play a key role in their adaptation process to the issue of infertility. In Iran, several studies have been focused on the quality of life and psychological issues of infertile individuals, while most of these studies have investigated the psychological issues of infertile women without much regard for the spouses of infertile men. The present study aimed to compare infertility stress and perceived social support in infertile women and the spouses of the infertile men referring to Akbar Abadi Teaching Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 164 infertile women and 93 spouses of infertile men referring to the infertility clinic of Akbar Abadi hospital in Tehran during 2015-2016. After obtaining the required permit from Iran University of Medical Sciences by the researcher and co-researcher, they visited the clinic on working days for sampling. After providing the necessary explanations to the hospital authorities and conforming to ethical principles (e.g., obtaining written consent), continuous sampling was performed until the completion of the sample size. The inclusion criteria were the Iranian nationality of the couples, infertility in only one spouse, willingness to participate in the study, absence of chronic physical diseases or known mental disorders, and no consumption of the medications affecting the nervous system by the couples. The subjects were allowed to withdraw from the study at any stages. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, Newton infertility stress inventory, and the functional social support questionnaire, which were completed in a self-report manner or with the help of the researcher, enquiring the subjects, and review of their medical records. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive and inferential statistics, including Chi-square and independent t-test at the significance level of P<0.05. Results: No significant differences were observed between the two study groups in terms of ag...
Objectives: Sexual life may change during pregnancy. Due to negative attitudes toward having sex, unpleasant feeling, and fear of several issues, women might avoid vaginal intercourse during pregnancy. Therefore, the present systematic review aimed to investigate the frequency of vaginal intercourse in pregnancy. Materials and Methods: Comprehensive literature review was conducted to find the relevant articles published (from December 1990 to April 2018) on the issue including observational studies (e.g., cross-sectional and cohort studies) that certainly determined the mean frequency of vaginal sex throughout pregnancy. In this regard, online international databases such as ISI, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google Scholar were independently explored and checked by two authors. Duplicate articles were removed by the EndNote X7 Reference Manager. The results were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software. The P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Totally, after excluding the duplicate and irrelevant articles based on having the mean frequency of vaginal intercourse during pregnancy, 13 articles were obtained. The range of vaginal intercourse frequency varied from 6.01 to 21 times every month pre-pregnancy, 3.67-9.87 times monthly in the first trimester, 2.78-7.21 times monthly in the second trimester, and 1.35-5.9 times monthly in the third trimester. Five out of the 13 selected articles reporting the mean and standard deviation were entered the current meta-analysis. The frequency of vaginal intercourse was obtained 7.75 (7.13-8.38) times monthly prior to pregnancy, 4.16 (3.86-4.46) times in the first trimester, 6.37 (5.60-7.14) times monthly in the second trimester, and 1.81 (1.49-2.13) times monthly in the third trimester. Conclusions: Generally, the frequency of vaginal intercourse decreased in the first trimester while increasing in the second trimester. However, a sharp decline was observed between the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
Background: Sexual dysfunction has many factors in multiple sclerosis, but there is no reliable treatment for this challenge. Objective: Determining effective sexual function or dysfunction interventions in individuals with multiple sclerosis. Materials and Methods: To find the relevant published interventional studies that at least had an English abstract or in Persian, we searched International Statistical Institute, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Google Scholar from January 1990 to June 2021. The results were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software. The p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 568 articles, 41 were included after deleting the duplicate and irrelevant articles. Studies were divided into 2 groups of sexual function (n = 27) and dysfunction (n = 14). Interventions in each category have 4 subgroups: psychoeducational, exercise and rehabilitation, and medical and multi-type interventions. For improving sexual function, more than half of psychoeducational interventions showed a significant improvement after interventions (p = 0.0003). In sexual dysfunction studies, most of the interventions (n = 13/14) had improved at least one subscale of sexual dysfunction. Medical interventions were effective on men’s sexual dysfunction, and psychoeducational interventions had been more effective in women’s sexual dysfunction. Conclusion: Psychoeducational and medical interventions are the commonest effective interventions. The psychoeducational studies conducted specifically on women had a positive impact, and only 4 articles with medical interventions were specifically targeted at men, which had a positive effect. Key words: Clinical trial, Multiple sclerosis, Sexual dysfunction, Systematic review.
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