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I. Kracun, V. Globevnik Velikonja, PS-02-007 Sexuality of Pregnant Women and their Fear of Harming the Baby, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 16, Issue Supplement_2, May 2019, Pages S7–S8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2019.03.052
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Extract
Objective
The research focuses on women’s sexuality during pregnancy, their fear of harming the baby during sexual intercourse and its connections to other factors.
Methods
The study included 200 nulliparous women (average age 30.5 yrs, average gestational age 31.6 wks), who attended preparation for birth course. They anonymously answered questionnaires: The Female Sexual Function Index Questionnaire, the ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale, WHO Well-being Scale, Fear of harming the baby and Attitudes towards sexuality scale. The participants also reported about their sources of information on sex in pregnancy. Women who were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse for at least 4 weeks in the last 2 months were excluded from the study.
Results
21% participants reported not engaging in coital activity in the last two months, whereas 35% reported average weekly coital frequency in the last two months. 54% reported talking to their doctor about sex during pregnancy and 36.5% reported they received most information about the subject from their doctor. 50% of women reported no fear of hurting the baby during sexual intercourse, 35% were not at all concerned about sexual intercourse causing preterm labor. We found no difference in fear between the group who talked to their doctor and the group who did not, but interestingly we found that women who talked to their mothers about sex during pregnancy reported more fear of hurting the baby. Weak correlations were found between fear of hurting the baby and some aspects of sexuality (sexual arousal), general well-being, and relationship satisfaction and moderate correlations with attitudes towards sexuality.
