1 Student Research Committee, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
2 Metabolic Diseases Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran. Electronic address: folfati@qums.ac.ir.
3 Metabolic Disease Research Center, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Science, Qazvin, Iran. Electronic address: soveysi@qums.ac.ir.
4 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran. Electronic address: nbahrami@qums.ac.ir.
5 Interpersonal Relationships & Development Laboratory, Centre for Research in Human Development, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: lisa.astrologo@live.ca.
6 Biostatistics Unit, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore. Electronic address: yiong_huak_chan@nuhs.edu.sg.

Purpose: The main goal of this study was to investigate whether the Self-Regulation Model could improve sexual satisfaction for women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Methods: Adult women diagnosed with breast cancer were recruited from a hospital in Qazvin, Iran. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 40) or a control group (n = 40). All participants were administered a demographic questionnaire and an Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS) pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and 1, 2, and 3 months following the intervention. The control group completed the assessments along the same time line as the intervention group. Women in the experimental group were provided three sessions of a psychological individual intervention which included psychoeducation regarding their diagnosis and personalized intervention strategies to improve their overall sexual satisfaction with sexual intercourse. Each intervention took between 60 and 90 min to administer.

Results: The experimental and control group participants were well balanced in terms of demographic characteristics and sexual satisfaction scores before the intervention. The intervention group showed a positive increasing trend in the sexual satisfaction scores over time while the control group participants had a negative trend (p < 0.05). There were also statistical differences in the sexual satisfaction scores at each follow-up month (p < 0.05) adjusted for the baseline score and relevant demographical variables, showing longer term effects with a significant increase in sexual satisfaction over time.

Conclusion: Providing a psychoeducational based intervention provided an increase of sexual satisfaction during intercourse for women diagnosed with breast cancer. The psychoeducation based intervention provided an opportunity for participants to dispel common myths regarding their disease and obtain new strategies and skills to improve their sexual satisfaction from intercourse with their partners.