Pregnancy is an important period of a woman's life that can affect marital relationships because of decrease in the sexual function. This study aimed to examine the effect of sexual life on the marital adjustment of 607 healthy, pregnant women using the self-administered Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire-Female and the Marital Adjustment Scale. Results showed that 30% of the pregnant women experienced problems during sexual intercourse and 50% had painful intercourse. The median total score of the Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire-Female for pregnant women was 35.5, and the median total score of the Marital Adjustment Scale was 41.0. The authors found a positive moderate level correlation between the sexual quality of life for women and their marital adjustment for being pregnant (r = 0.468, p =.001). The results imply that the variance in the sexual activity during the childbearing period does occur and pregnant women need to be assessed regularly with regards to their sexuality by health care providers in a professional atmosphere.

The purpose of this study was to determine the use of traditional practices to ease labour among Turkish women. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 809 women by using an investigator-designed questionnaire. The mean age of the women was 28.9 ± 8.33 years (min = 15, max = 74), 49.4% were between 20-29 years of age and more than half (56.2%) of the women had had one to two pregnancies. The results showed that traditional practices were known and applied mostly by the women who were at an advanced age, less educated and who lived in rural areas. In addition, the knowledge and application status of traditional practices related to religious beliefs were found to be very high compared with superstitious practices. It was suggested that nurses provide culturally competent care that requires a commitment by the individual nurse to develop, refine and use specific skills in the care of women.

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