Impact of Chronic Pelvic Pain on Female Sexual Function

The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of sexual dysfunction and depression in women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP). A case-control study was conducted on 66 women, 36 of them with CPP and 30 without this diagnosis. Depression was evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and sexual dysfunction was evaluated using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Data were analyzed statistically by the Mann-Whitney test, Fisher exact test, chisquare test, and Spearman correlation test. Regarding sociodemographic data, no significant differences were detected between populations with respect to the variables studied (age, schooling, number of children, income, salary, and marital status), indicating group homogeneity and thus increasing the reliability of the data. A cut-off of 26.55 points was used to calculate the total score for sexual function. In the group of women with CPP, 94.4% were at high risk for sexual dysfunction. Comparison of FSFI scores showed that the domains of sexual function, such as orgasm, lubrication and pain differed significantly between women with and without CPPP. Correlations were detected between the following items: orgasm × age (r = -0.01904), orgasm × number of children (r =-0. 00947), orgasm × body mass index (BMI) (r =-0.00 955), relationship × age (r = 0.03952), income × relationship (r =-0.014680), relationship × number of children (r =-0.03623), depression × relationship (r =-0.16091), desire × age (r = -0.45255), desire × number of children (r = -0.01824), lubrication × excitement (r = 0.04198), and lubrication × BMI (r = -0.01608). The prevalence of depression detected in the present study was 38.9% among women with pain and 3.3% among control women. It was observed that women with CPP suffer a negative interference regarding sexual function compared to controls. Thus, it can be seen that a specific approach related to sexuality is extremely important within the context of women with CPP. Depression was clearly associated with CPP and therefore an interdisciplinary approach is fundamental in order to solve this problem.

Occupational Performance of Women with Chronic Pelvic Pain and the Potential of Coping as an Unassisted Intervention

Objective: To assess the satisfaction and occupational performance of women with chronic pelvic pain and to discuss unassisted intervention strategies by the occupational therapist for the care of these patients. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 75 women with chronic pelvic pain and 75 apparently healthy women. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution and all subjects gave written informed consent to participate. Pain intensity was determined using a visual analogue scale and each patient was submitted to psycho-metric assessment using the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Self-Reporting Questionnaire of Psychiatric Screening and the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophofobia in their Brazilian version. The main outcomes regarding occupational performance and satisfaction were evaluated using the Canadian Measure of Occupational Performance. Results: The performance and satisfaction scores of women with chronic pelvic pain were significantly lower than those of healthy women. The presence of pain and kinesophobia was directly and independently correlated with low performance and satisfaction scores regardless of ethnicity, marital status, schooling, or psychometric scores. Conclusion: women with chronic pelvic pain present significant impairment of satisfaction and occupational performance. Coping is a potential unassisted intervention strategy to be applied to this population by occupational therapists.

The Impact of Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a prevalent condition with a significant impact on the personal, social, professional and marital life of women. It is a complex condition that may have no specific causal diagnosis or may be associated with multiple diagnoses, frequently involving treatment failure. The definition of health care strategies fundamentally depends on the way women live with this condition. Thus, the objective of the present study is to learn how women with CPP experience their diagnosis and the meaning they attribute to it. A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing a focus group of 11 women. The content of the interviews was recorded and fully transcribed, and the speeches were interpreted by Bardin’s content analysis. The topics most frequently dealt with in the interview were diagnosis, beginning of pain, worsening and improving factors, marital and interpersonal relationships, interference with daily activities, association with emotional aspects, and perspectives for the future. It could be perceived how much these women need to be better heard and how much the association between psychic and physical questions must be visualized by the professionals who provide care for them. The approach used by professionals from different areas, when properly structured, can minimize the problem of the division of a sick person into separate parts. Psychological care is very important, especially in relation to the discovery of more effective strategies for living with pain.