Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Counseling on Sexual Assertiveness of Pregnant Women

Determining the effect of cognitive-behavioral group counseling on sexual assertiveness of pregnant women participating in childbirth preparation classes of midwifery counseling centers in Nahavand city in 2023

A clinical trial with a control group, with parallel groups, randomized with statistical software, on 60 client

A number of pregnant women referred to midwifery consultation centers in Nahavand city were selected based on the conditions of entry into the study and after obtaining consent to participate in the study, they will be randomly divided into two intervention and control groups, and then a pre-test-post-test and follow-up experimental design will be used with the control group.

The inclusion criteria are being over 18 years old, being married, being pregnant, referring to midwifery consultation centers, agreeing to participate in the study, having no history of sexual disorders according to self-report and not facing severe crises and being available within the next two months. Exclusion criteria: high-risk pregnancy, severe marital conflicts according to self-report, history of mental illnesses as diagnosed by a psychiatrist, refusal to continue participating in the study, and incomplete answers to questionnaires.

Counseling in the intervention group is held as a group and based on cognitive behavioral approach (CBT) weekly during 6 sessions of 45-90 minutes. In order to comply with ethical issues, after the completion of the research, an educational guide in the field of sexual assertiveness will be provided to the control group.

The effect of the independent variable (group counseling with a cognitive-behavioral approach) on the dependent variable (sexual assertiveness of pregnant women)

Randomization of patients was done by random allocation sampling in two stages.In this way, it was used to create a random sequence of two groups; in such a way that one of the study groups was considered to be lion and the other group was considered to be line and based on the desired sample size, a coin was tossed and people were divided into two random allocation groups. Sealed non-transparent envelopes were used to hide the random allocation.In this way, based on the sample size of the research, a number of envelopes with aluminum coating were prepared and each of the random sequences created was recorded on a card and the cards were placed in the letter envelopes in order. In order to preserve the random sequence, the outer surface of the envelopes was numbered in the same order. Finally, the lid of the letter envelopes was glued and placed in a box. At the time of registration of the participants, based on the order in which the eligible participants entered the study, one of the envelopes was opened and the assigned group of that participant was revealed.