Sexual life quality and factors affecting married and diabetic patients

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic systemic disease with an epidemic increase in recent years. Vascular and neurological complications that develop with DM cause impairment in sexual function and quality of sexual life. Although sexual dysfunctions are more common in women than in men, it is noteworthy that studies on female sexual problems are limited. For this reason, our study was planned descriptively in order to determine the quality of sexual life with married diabetic women and the influencing factors. The research was carried out with 160 women with DM who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria in Hitit University Erol Olçok Training and Research Hospital with written permissions. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the Personal Information Form (PIF) with 31 questions and the Sexual Life Quality-Woman (SQOL-F) scale prepared by the researcher. In the statistical analysis of the data; Number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis Analysis of Variance and Spearman's correlation test were used. The average SQOL-F score of women was found to be 34.53 ± 30.36. The statistical difference between the age, education level, occupation, age of marriage, duration of marriage, type of marriage and frequency of sexual intercourse and the mean SQOL-F score of women was found to be significant (p <0.05). While there is a statistically significant relationship between DM type and DM treatment method of women and the average SQOL-F score (p <0.05), the duration of DM, sexual problems and problems experienced in women and the mean SQOL-F scores are statistically significant. It was found to be insignificant (p> 0.05). As a result; DM causes negative changes in the female body, reducing the quality of sexual life. Therefore, when planning a nursing approach to women with DM; It can be suggested that DM should include information and counseling about sexual problems, causes and solutions. Key Words: Sexual Quality of Life, Diabetes Mellitus, Female Sexuality