Sexual Activity, Interest and Satisfaction in Older Women in Iran
,
Abstract
Introduction: The world's population is aging and the issue of sexual activity in elderly people is still a taboo in many cultures. The purpose of this study was to examine the sexual activity, interest and satisfaction in older women attended the Health Care Centers in the city of Ardabil-Northern Iran.
Method: This Cross-sectional study was conducted on 380 married women over 60 years old who had been selected by convenient sampling method. Data were gathered anonymously by three questionnaires (Goldberg general health, FSFI and demographic information Questionnaires) and analyzed using SPSS software.
Results: This study indicated that the mean age of participants was 71±6.8 years, 60% of the studied women had sexual activity and about half of them had interest in sex. Sexually active women were significantly younger (p<0.05) and more educated (p<0.001) than sexually inactive women. The participants’ sexual activity, interest in sex, emotional intimacy and sexual satisfaction with their husbands were significantly affected by the presence of children at home regardless of whether they are single or married (p<0.05)..
Conclusion: This study approved that despite misconceptions, older age and sexuality do not contradict each other and high education and having a private environment facilitate the intimate relationships and elevate their sexual satisfaction. The result of this study could help health care providers to provide appropriate and effective sexual healthcare services to older women.
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16. Matthias RE, Lubben JE, Atchison KA, Schweitzer SO. Sexual activity and satisfaction among very old adults: results from a community-dwelling Medicare population survey. The Gerontologist. 1997;37(1):6-14
17. Rosen CB, J. Heiman, S. Leiblum, C . Meston, R. Shabsig D. Ferguson, R. D'Agostino, R. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): a multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of female sexual function. Journal of Sex &Marital Therapy. 2000; 26(2):191-208.
18. Mohammadi KH, Heydari M, Faghihzadeh S. The female sexual function index (FSFI): validation of Iranian version. Payesh. 2008; 7(3): 269-278
19. Merghati-Khoei E .Language of love in culture of silence: Iranian women's sexual understandings and sociocultural context. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales. 2006
20. Waterman EA. Reactions of college students to the sexuality of older people. Journal of student research. 2012;1(2):46-50.
21. Mroczek B, Kurpas D, Gronowska M, Kotwas A, Karakiewicz B. Psychosexual needs and sexual behaviors of nursing care home residents. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2013;57(1):32-8.
22. Merghati-Khoei E, Zargham-Boroujeni A, Salehi M, Killeen TK, Momeni G, Pasha Y, et al. Saturated love leading to sexual pleasure: Iranian women's narratives. Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research. 2015;4(10.)
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24. Hosainzadeh A. Etiquette and function safe sex relations from Islamic view and its psychological injures. Article in Persian]. 2011;3(1):77-132.
25. Huang AJ, Subak LL, Thom DH, Van Den Eeden SK, Ragins AI, Kuppermann M, et al. Sexual function and aging in racially and ethnically diverse women. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2009;57(8):13628.
26. Trompeter SE, Bettencourt R, BarrettConnor E. Sexual Activity and Satisfaction in Healthy Community-dwelling Older Women. The American Journal of Medicine. 2012;125(1):37-43.e1.
27. Hayes RD, Dennerstein L, Bennett CM, Koochaki PE, Leiblum SR, Graziottin A. Relationship between hypoactive sexual desire disorder and aging. Fertility and sterility. 2007;87(1):107-12.
28. Starc A, Jukić T, Poljšak B, Dahmane R. Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction: A Cross-National Prevalence Study in Slovenia. Acta clinica Croatica. 2018;57(1.):52-60. doi: 10.20471/acc.2018.57.01.06
29. Gewirtz-Meydan A, Hafford-Letchfield T, Ayalon L, Benyamini Y, Biermann V, Coffey A et al. How do older people discuss their own sexuality? A systematic review of qualitative research studies. Culture, health & sexuality. 2018: 1-16 doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1465203
30. Espin OM. Cultural and historical influences on sexuality in Hispanic/Latin women: Implications for psychotherapy. Latina Realities. Routledge. 2018: 83-96
31. Zainah A, Nasir R, Hashim RS, Yusof NM. Effects of demographic variables on marital satisfaction. Asian Social Science. 2012;8(9):46.
32. Bayle AT, Ayalew DW, Yimer AM. Sociodemographic determinants of marital
satisfaction in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology. 2017;9(10):131-42. 33. Kenny R. A review of the literature on sexual development of older adults in relation to the asexual stereotype of older adults. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth/Le Journal Canadien de Famille et de la Jeunesse. 2013;5(1):91-106. 34. Estill A, Mock SE, Schryer E, Eibach RP. The effects of subjective age and aging attitudes on mid-to late-life sexuality. The Journal of Sex Research. 2018; 55(2): 146-151. doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1293603
35. Štulhofer A, Hinchliff S, Jurin T, Carvalheira A, Træen B. Successful aging, change in sexual interest and sexual satisfaction in couples from four European Countries. European journal of ageing. 2019;16(2):155-65
2. WHO. World report on ageing and health 2015. ISBN: 978 92 4 156504 2
3. Afshar PF, Asgari P, Shiri M, Bahramnezhad F. A review of the Iran's elderly status according to the census records. Galen Medical Journal. 2016;5(1):1-6.
4. Ni Lochlainn M, Kenny RA. Sexual Activity and Aging. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2013;14(8):565-72.
5. Freak-Poli R, Kirkman M, Lima GDC, Direk N, Franco OH, Tiemeier H. Sexual activity and physical tenderness in older adults: crosssectional prevalence and associated characteristics. The journal of sexual medicine. 2017;14(7):918-27.
6. Lusti-Narasimhan M BJ. Sexual health in older women. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2013;91(9):707-9.
7. McCarthy B, Farr E, McDonald D. Couple sexuality after 60. Journal of Family Psychotherapy. 2013;24(1):38-47.
8. Mahieu L VEK, Gastmans C. Nurses’ perceptions of sexuality in institutionalized elderly: A literature review. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2011;48(9):114054.
9. Levkovich I, Gewirtz-Meydan A, Karkabi, K, Ayalon, L. Views of family physicians on heterosexual sexual function in older adults. BMC family practice. 2018; 19(1):86 doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0770-1
10. Hinchliff S, Tetley J, Lee D, Nazroo J. Older adults’ experiences of sexual difficulties: Qualitative findings from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (ELSA). The Journal of Sex Research. 2018;55(2):52-63
11. Moghasemi S, Ozgoli G, Ahmadi F, Simbar M. Sexual Experience of Iranian Women in Their Middle Life: A Qualitative Approach. International journal of community based nursing and midwifery. 2018;6(1):47.
12. Goldberg, D. & Williams, P. A user’s guide to the General Health Questionnaire, U.K. NFER-NELSON.1988
13. Goldberg, D.P. The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph. Oxford: Oxford University press. 1972 No, 21.
14. Taghavi SMR. The normalization of general health questionnaire for Shiraz University students (GHQ-28). Daneshvar Raftar. 2008; 15(28): 1-12
15.DeLamater J, Hyde JS, Fong M-C. Sexual satisfaction in the seventh decade of life. Journal of sex & Marital therapy. 2008;34(5):439-54
16. Matthias RE, Lubben JE, Atchison KA, Schweitzer SO. Sexual activity and satisfaction among very old adults: results from a community-dwelling Medicare population survey. The Gerontologist. 1997;37(1):6-14
17. Rosen CB, J. Heiman, S. Leiblum, C . Meston, R. Shabsig D. Ferguson, R. D'Agostino, R. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): a multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of female sexual function. Journal of Sex &Marital Therapy. 2000; 26(2):191-208.
18. Mohammadi KH, Heydari M, Faghihzadeh S. The female sexual function index (FSFI): validation of Iranian version. Payesh. 2008; 7(3): 269-278
19. Merghati-Khoei E .Language of love in culture of silence: Iranian women's sexual understandings and sociocultural context. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales. 2006
20. Waterman EA. Reactions of college students to the sexuality of older people. Journal of student research. 2012;1(2):46-50.
21. Mroczek B, Kurpas D, Gronowska M, Kotwas A, Karakiewicz B. Psychosexual needs and sexual behaviors of nursing care home residents. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2013;57(1):32-8.
22. Merghati-Khoei E, Zargham-Boroujeni A, Salehi M, Killeen TK, Momeni G, Pasha Y, et al. Saturated love leading to sexual pleasure: Iranian women's narratives. Caspian Journal of Applied Sciences Research. 2015;4(10.)
23. Tohidi N. Touraj Atabaki, Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and Autonomy in Twentieth-Century Iran (London: British Academic Press, 1993. Pp. 2381996.
24. Hosainzadeh A. Etiquette and function safe sex relations from Islamic view and its psychological injures. Article in Persian]. 2011;3(1):77-132.
25. Huang AJ, Subak LL, Thom DH, Van Den Eeden SK, Ragins AI, Kuppermann M, et al. Sexual function and aging in racially and ethnically diverse women. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2009;57(8):13628.
26. Trompeter SE, Bettencourt R, BarrettConnor E. Sexual Activity and Satisfaction in Healthy Community-dwelling Older Women. The American Journal of Medicine. 2012;125(1):37-43.e1.
27. Hayes RD, Dennerstein L, Bennett CM, Koochaki PE, Leiblum SR, Graziottin A. Relationship between hypoactive sexual desire disorder and aging. Fertility and sterility. 2007;87(1):107-12.
28. Starc A, Jukić T, Poljšak B, Dahmane R. Female Sexual Function and Dysfunction: A Cross-National Prevalence Study in Slovenia. Acta clinica Croatica. 2018;57(1.):52-60. doi: 10.20471/acc.2018.57.01.06
29. Gewirtz-Meydan A, Hafford-Letchfield T, Ayalon L, Benyamini Y, Biermann V, Coffey A et al. How do older people discuss their own sexuality? A systematic review of qualitative research studies. Culture, health & sexuality. 2018: 1-16 doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1465203
30. Espin OM. Cultural and historical influences on sexuality in Hispanic/Latin women: Implications for psychotherapy. Latina Realities. Routledge. 2018: 83-96
31. Zainah A, Nasir R, Hashim RS, Yusof NM. Effects of demographic variables on marital satisfaction. Asian Social Science. 2012;8(9):46.
32. Bayle AT, Ayalew DW, Yimer AM. Sociodemographic determinants of marital
satisfaction in Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology. 2017;9(10):131-42. 33. Kenny R. A review of the literature on sexual development of older adults in relation to the asexual stereotype of older adults. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth/Le Journal Canadien de Famille et de la Jeunesse. 2013;5(1):91-106. 34. Estill A, Mock SE, Schryer E, Eibach RP. The effects of subjective age and aging attitudes on mid-to late-life sexuality. The Journal of Sex Research. 2018; 55(2): 146-151. doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1293603
35. Štulhofer A, Hinchliff S, Jurin T, Carvalheira A, Træen B. Successful aging, change in sexual interest and sexual satisfaction in couples from four European Countries. European journal of ageing. 2019;16(2):155-65
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| Issue | Vol 5 No 1 (2019) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/jbe.v5i1.1906 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Kermanshah Sexual Interest Satisfaction Older Women Iran | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Mardi A, Behboodi Moghadam Z, Ghafoori F, Refahi S. Sexual Activity, Interest and Satisfaction in Older Women in Iran. JBE. 2019;5(1):50-57.
