The effect of menopausual wi̇ves on sexual dysfuncti̇on and mari̇tal harmony

This study was conducted as a descriptive study in order to determine the effect of menopause on marital and sexual adjustment of spouses. The sample consisted of 254 married women and their wives in 127 postmenopausal women. The data were collected by personal information form (PIF), marriage adjustment scale (MAS), female sexual function scale (FSFI) and males sexuality scale (ASEX). Mann Whitney U, T, Kruskal Wallis and Spearman's rho correlation tests were used to evaluate the data. The mean age of women was 55,94 ± 5,51. The total score average of women is 35,55 ± 9,04, and 74,1 % of them have low marital adjustment. The total score averages of women are below 26,55 cut-off points (11,02 ± 9,80), indicating sexual dysfunction (SD). In men, the mean score is above the cut-off score> 11 (14,14 ± 3,29). In 91,3 % of the women and in 87,4 % of the men, SD was determined. 67,7 % of women reported that menopause had a negative effect on sexuality. 55,8 % of women with SD had sexual reluctance and 40,7 % had pain during sexual intercourse. The relationship between some menopausal characteristics such as age, duration of marriage, level of income, level of education, working status, level of education of spouse and some menopausal features such as time of menopause, vaginal dryness, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), and the relationship between FSFI and MAS score averages was found to be insignificant (p> 0,05). According to the Spearman's rho correlation coefficient, it was found that there was a weak but positive (r = 0.290; p = 0,001) relationship between FSFI and MAS, and a negative (r = -0.381; p = 0,000) relationship between FSFI and ASEX (p <0,05). In conclusion, it was determined that the marital and sexual adaptation of the spouses in menopause was affected negatively.