Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
SEXUALITY AND DISABILITY, cilt.40, sa.1, ss.153-165, 2022 (SSCI)
The present study determines the effects of dyspnea and fatigue on the sex life and marital adjustment of patients with COPD. The study sample of this descriptive research included individuals hospitalized in the Pulmonary Diseases Clinic of a university hospital in Turkey who voluntarily accepted to participate in the study. The data for the research were collected using a question form, the Modified British Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC), the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale-Female Form, the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale-Male Form, the Marriage Adjustment Test, the COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale, and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT). The data, in the form of numbers, percentages means and standard deviations, were assessed with Mann-Whitney U-tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, One Way Analyses of Variance and t tests. Of the participants with COPD, 83.3% reported that the disease affected their sex life; 83.6% reported that they had not consulted a physician about sexual problems due to believed the disease ends sexual desire, as one of the obstacles preventing help being sought in this matter; 95.8% reported using no methods other than medical ones to resolve their sexual problems; 90.3% reported encountering problems during sexual intercourse; and 58.3% stated that the symptom with the greatest effect on their sex life was dyspnea. COPD was reported to affect marital adjustment in 54.2, and 55.8% reported that the disease had led to the development of good relations between the partners, and thus better adjustment. It was found in the present study that dyspnea had a negative effect on the patients' sex life, but no effect on the marital adjustment of individuals with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; while fatigue negatively affected the patients' sex life, but positively affected marital adjustment.