Assessing the Impact of Pregnancy on Sexuality Using the Pregnancy Sexual Response Inventory

Introduction: Pregnancy is a state when body undergoes biopsychosocial and hormonal changes which affect pregnant women and her partner. The aim of this study was assessing the changes in sexual life of pregnant women and their partners. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out at 8 public hospitals in Kosovo. Mostly, pregnant women in third trimester attending hospitals between July and December 2017 were eligible. The questionnaires have been distributed and supervised by the Kosovo Midwife Association, while have been fulfilled by pregnant women in the delivery room or in their rest rooms. Categorical data were expressed by percentage and comparisons were made by the T-test. Statistical significance was considered as p < 0.05. Results: Out of 1510 participants, who took part in this study, it is shown that the majority of them were between the age of 18 and 35. Only 7.7% were under 18 years old. The 66.2% of the surveyed women have previously planned their pregnancies. The frequency of sexual intercourse per week shows a considerable changing among participants in the study. The number of women who are not satisfied with their sexual lives has increased from 7.9% before the pregnancy to 18.6% during pregnancy. The number of women who have never or rarely experienced orgasm has increased from 9.6% to 16.4% while the percentage of those who have often experienced orgasm before pregnancy has decreased from 38% to 22.5% during pregnancy. From the analyzed parameters only the sexual desire has not undergone changes before and during pregnancy. Moreover, the sexual desire has shown increase, into the option once a day. Conclusion and Recommendation: Apart of sexual desire which remains the same all other parameters have been decreased during the pregnancy. The role of health professionals in consulting sexual activity problems needs to be improved.