Sexuality experienced in pregnancy: knowing this reality

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the pregnant women’ sexuality. Cross-sectional, quantitative and descriptive study, developed with 108 women in a Health Center in Fortaleza-CE, from November/2008 to March/2009, using form for data collection. The study complied with the ethical standards of research with humans. It is noteworthy that 43,5% of women received during prenatal any information about sexuality, 86,1% reported sexual intercourse during pregnancy, 58,3% of the men looked for them at the same frequency of before the pregnancy. As for the desire and sexual satisfaction, most of these reported a decrease in pregnancy. It was noted as factors affecting sexuality in pregnancy: nausea, back pain, fear of hurting the baby and cause miscarriage, showing a lack of clarification of these women and the importance of proper monitoring by health professionals. So part of women attended in prenatal care does not exercise their sexuality fully, what makes us reflect on the importance of sexual health promotion during prenatal care.

Descriptors: Sexuality; Sexual behavior; Pregnancy; Nursing; Prenatal care.