The factors affecting sexual life in pregnant women

Pregnancy during which physiological and psychological changes occur in the body is a natural and important happening. The changes occurring in the woman's body during the pregnancy period, social factors, cultural factors, religious believes, fears and myths affect the sexual life quality of the pregnant women. This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting sexual life quality of the pregnant women and their sexuality. The subjects of the study are composed of 100 pregnant women who applied to Büyükçekmece Hekimbaşı Mustafa Behçet Primary Health Care Center. NCSS (Number Cruncher Statistical System) 2007 (Kaysville, Utah, USA) was used for the statistical analyses. Mean, standard deviation, median, frequency, ratio, minimum, and maximum were used for the statistical analyses and the distribution of the data was analyzed by using Shapiro-Wilk Test. Mann-Whitney U Test was used for the double comparisons. The level of significance was determined as p<0.05. During the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy period, high sexual arousal level (%67 yes, %33 no) was observed. The level of lubrication (%58 yes, %42 no) was detected closer to each group. The majority of the pregnant (%73) stated that they did not have any pain during sexual intercourse. The number of the pregnant who experienced orgasm (%43) was lower than those who did not have orgasm (%57). As for the sexual satisfaction level, the difference between the satisfied (%47) and dissatisfied (%53) groups was found close to each other. Keywords: Pregnancy, Sexuality, Sexual Life Quality.