Effectiveness of Relationship Enrichment program (REP) on sexual dysfunction and Satisfaction of Females with Multiple Sclerosis-An Educational Study

Improving sexual function in women with disability such as multiple sclerosis was aimed. Sexual dysfunction and the consequent low satisfaction is very common in females with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Relationship Enhancement Therapy (REP) on sexual function and satisfaction of females with MS. the present study was an educational design with two groups, in which 44 females with MS participated and their spouses (N= 88) participated and randomly divided in two groups of intervention (N= 22 couples) and control (N= 22 couples). They signed written consent forms and were included in the project. The intervention group received the REP in six 90-minute sessions. The groups completed standard questionnaires of sexual dysfunction and sexual satisfaction in three stages of pretest-posttest and 3 months later. The Descriptive and inferential statistics (Two- way repeated measures ANOVA, chi-square, t-test and Mann-Whitney U test) were used to analyze data. The results of analysis showed that there was a clinically significant difference between the scores of sexual dysfunction in different phases of the assessment between two groups (p <0.05). Also sexual satisfaction was higher in the intervention group vs. in the control (p <0.05). according to the findings, marital enrichment program was effective in improvement of sexual function and sexual satisfaction of females with multiple sclerosis. It is recommended to healthcare providers to use enrichment alongside medical services to improve patients' sexual life.