Investigation of sexual quality of life and related factors in women with preinvasive cervical cancer

Background: The surgical treatments for preinvasive cervical cancers may have adverse effects on women’s sexual health for a period of a few weeks following surgery, during the post-operative phase. This study was undertaken to ascertain the quality of sexual life and associated factors among women with preinvasive cervical cancer. Methods: The study was designed as a prospective descriptive study. This study was conducted in the gynecologic oncology outpatient clinic of a women’s hospital in Turkey between February and December 2022. The study was completed with a total of 150 women. The Sexual Quality of Life-Female (SQoL-F) was used to determine the sexual quality of life of women with preinvasive cervical cancer. Results: The mean total score for women with preinvasive cervical cancer from the SQoL-F was 49.21 ± 13.80. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean SQoL-F scores of women with preinvasive cervical cancer included in the study according to the family type, their sexual life status prior to the operation, impact on their sexual lives following the procedure and effect on their body perception after the operation variables (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The study revealed that the quality of sexual life of women who had undergone surgical treatment for preinvasive cervical cancer was low. It is thus recommended that further comprehensive studies be conducted to provide education/counseling services related to quality of sexual life, including spouses/partners, for improve the quality of sexual life of women with preinvasive cervical cancer.

Preinvasive cervical cancer; Women; Sexual life quality; Nursing; Sexual health

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