The Effectiveness of Marriage Enrichment Training in Reducing Fear of Intimacy and Improving Sexual Function

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of marriage enrichment training in reducing fear of intimacy and improving sexual function in married women.

The study was quasi-experimental with experimental and control groups and a pre-test-post-test design with a one-month follow-up. The statistical population consisted of married women who had visited Gorouh Hamrah counseling center in District 2 of Tehran due to marital dissatisfaction and communication problems. Forty married women, who scored higher on the scale of fear of intimacy and lower score on sexual function, were randomly classified into experimental groups (n=20) and control (n=20) groups according to the inclusion criteria. The experimental group received 8-session interventions as a group and the control group was placed on a waiting list. Both groups responded to the fear of intimacy and sexual function scale before and after the experiment and were reassessed after 45 days. We used the repeated measures analysis of variance to analyze the data.

The results indicated that marriage enrichment training significantly decreased fear of intimacy (F= 21.69, P= 0.00). It also significantly increased sexual function (F= 4.69, P= 0.03), and the results were stable in the follow-up phase.

Based on the findings, marriage enrichment training promoted fear of intimacy and sexual function in married women.