Association of religiousness and sexual disorders: A cross-sectional study on married women of reproductive age referring to public health centers of Shiraz, South of Iran

Sexual health status of married women in the reproductive age, one of the most important community health issues. Recent research has highlighted the effects of religious beliefs with sexual life and sexual problem may be mediated This study aimed to investigate the association of religiousness and. through individual differences in spirituality. sexual disorders in a cross-sectional study in women of reproductive. This cross-sectional study was conducted on women aged 15-45 years old referring to Shiraz health centers in 2015 with a sample size of 210. Cluster sampling was done firstly. Then, purposeful sampling was conducted in each center. Data collection was done using Religious Attitude Questionnaire and Female Sexual Dysfunction index. Correlation coefficient and Fisher's test The mean age of the study population was 30.67 +/- 6.60. were performed for data analysis in SPSS software. According to the findings, 74.3% had sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, the rate of impaired sexual desire was 72.9% and 62.4% in sexual arousal. Orgasmic disorder was the highest reported sexual dysfunction. There was a statistically significant correlation between religious thoughts and different dimensions of sexual function such as sexual desire ( P= 0.005), psychological stimulation ( p= 0.05), lubrication ( p= 0.02), orgasm ( p= 0.013), and satisfaction ( p= 0.001). Religious thoughts with dimensions of sexual function ( libido, orgasm, etc.) was associated. So, the improvement in families and society's sexual health could result from the increase in the individuals' knowledge about sex related issues and religious thoughts in this regard. Therefore, sexual health education, in accordance with religious values, is one of the priorities in community health system.