Sexual attitudes of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak


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Culha M. G., DEMİR Ö., Sahin O., Altunrende F.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMPOTENCE RESEARCH, cilt.33, sa.1, ss.102-109, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1038/s41443-020-00381-9
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMPOTENCE RESEARCH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Abstracts in Social Gerontology, EMBASE, Gender Studies Database, MEDLINE
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.102-109
  • Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

During the COVID-19 outbreak, which is effective worldwide, the psychological conditions of healthcare professionals deteriorate. The aim of this study was to examine health professionals' changes in their sexual lives due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Istanbul, Turkey. This online survey was conducted between 2 and 26 May 2020 with 232 healthcare professionals working in a pandemic hospital. After obtaining informed consent, a questionnaire was sent online from the hospital database and health institutions social media accounts (Twitter (R), Facebook (R), Instagram (R), WhatsApp (R) etc.) and e-mail addresses. The first section of the four-part questionnaire included demographic data, the second and third sections of pre-and post-COVID-19 attitudes, and the last section to assess sexual functions (International Index of Erecile Function for male and Female Sexual Function Index for female), anxiety and depression. Dependent sample t-test, Mc Nemar test, and multivariate analysis were used.The study was completed with 185 participants in total. Healthcare workers' sexual desire (3.49 +/- 1.12 vs. 3.22 +/- 1.17; p = 0.003), weekly sexual intercourse/masturbation number (2.53 +/- 1.12 vs. 1.32 +/- 1.27; p < 0.001), foreplay time (16.38 +/- 12.35 vs. 12.02 +/- 12.14; p < 0.001), sexual intercourse time (24.65 +/- 19.58 vs. 19.38 +/- 18.85; p < 0.001) decreased compared to the Pre-COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, participants prefer less foreplay (p < 0.001), less oral sex (p < 0.001) and anal sex (p = 0.007) during COVID-19 and more non-face to face sexual intercourse positions (p < 0.001). When factors affecting sexual dysfunction were analyzed as univariate and multivariate, sexual dysfunction was shown to be significantly more common in males (OR = 0.053) and alcohol users (OR = 2.925). During the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare workers' sexual desires decreased, the number of sexual intercourses decreased, their foreplay times decreased, and their sexual intercourse positions changed to less face to face.