Effects of Stress Management and Relationship-Enrichment Counseling on Sexual and Marital Satisfaction of Working Women with High Occupational Stress

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Industrialization of societies has placed considerable stress on employees influencing various aspects of their lives including marital and sexual satisfaction. This study aimed to investigate the effects of stress management and relationship enrichment counseling on marital and sexual satisfaction in stressed women working at the teaching hospitals affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz, Iran. Method: In this quasi-experimental study, 75 nurses and midwives experiencing moderate-to-severe occupational stress were assigned to two intervention groups and a control group using randomized block design. Women in the first intervention group attended six stress management counseling sessions. Members of the second intervention group attended six relationship enrichment counseling sessions, and those in the control group received no intervention. The participants completed Osipow’s Revised Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI-R), ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale, and Larson’s Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire before and 2 weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA. Results: No significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and baseline outcome scores (P < 0.05).. According to the results of ANCOVA with controlled baseline values, after the intervention, the mean sexual satisfaction score of the participants in the stress management group was significantly higher than that of those in the control group (adjusted mean difference = 6.63, 95% CI = 0.323-12.94; p = 0.036). However, no significant difference was found between the relationship enrichment group and control group (p = 0.194) or between the two intervention groups (p = 0.839) in terms of sexual satisfaction. In addition, there was no significant difference between the three groups in the mean occupational stress scores (p = 0.247) and marital satisfaction scores (p = 0.181). Conclusion: Stress management counseling increased the level of sexual satisfaction in the participants; however, none of the two approaches had a significant effect on occupational stress and marital satisfaction. Further studies are required to identify the best counseling approaches for stress reduction and improvement of sexual and marital satisfaction