Influencing Factors of Sexual Intimacy and Satisfaction among Women within 1 Year after Mastectomy

Sunyoung Kim; Sukhee Ahn

doi:10.4069/kjwhn.2019.25.2.219

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Kim and Ahn: Influencing Factors of Sexual Intimacy and Satisfaction among Women within 1 Year after Mastectomy

Original Article

Korean J Women Health Nurs 2019;25(2):219-231.

Published online: 19 June 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2019.25.2.219

Influencing Factors of Sexual Intimacy and Satisfaction among Women within 1 Year after Mastectomy

Sunyoung Kim¹, Sukhee Ahn^2,

¹Nurse, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea

²Professor, College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea

Corresponding author: Sukhee Ahn College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, 266 Munwha-ro, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Korea. Tel: +82-42-580-8324 Fax: +82-42-580-8309 E-mail: sukheeahn@cnu.ac.kr

Received 28 May 2019 Revised 12 June 2019 Accepted 12 June 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to identify the levels of body image, sexual intimacy, and sexual satisfaction, and to explore factors affecting sexual intimacy and satisfaction among women within one year of mastectomy.

Methods:

The present study was a cross-sectional survey and involved 101 women who had undergone mastectomy at a University hospital of D city, Korea. Measurement included the scales of body image, sexual intimacy, and sexual satisfaction.

Results:

Mean age of the subjects was 51 years. Scores of the body image, sexual intimacy, and sexual satisfaction were 59.62, 90.69, and 69.04, respectively. Body image, sexual intimacy, and sexual satisfaction were significantly related to each other. Sexual intimacy was higher when women were of young age (β=−.32), had a shorter period since surgery (β=−.24), and with higher levels of body image (β=.37). Sexual satisfaction was higher when women had higher levels of body image (β=.19) and greater levels of sexual intimacy (β=.74).

Conclusion:

Higher levels of body image and greater levels of sexual intimacy were identified as the significant factors influencing sexual satisfaction among these women. Future research with a mixed-method research is needed to gain a deep understanding of the sexuality between women and their husbands.

Keywords: Breast neoplasms, Mastectomy, Body image, Personal satisfaction, Sexuality

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Table 1.

Differences in Body Image, Sexual Intimacy, and Sexual Satisfaction and by Subjects' Characteristics (N=101)

Variables	Categories	Body image		Sexual intimacy		Sexual satisfaction
Age(year)	≤40^a (n=14)	M±SD 58.92±8.89	t/F (p) 2.66 (.037)	M±SD 94.35±0.72	t/F (p) 6.09 (<.001)	M±SD 72.57±9.32	t/F (p) 2.67 (.036)
	41–50^b (n=40)	61.47±5.59		97.12±9.47	b>e	71.02±7.03
	51–60^c (n=29)	58.10±6.97		86.93±14.47		67.58±9.13
	61–70^d (n=12)	61.33±9.57		82.83±25.26		65.58±12.35
	≥71^e (n=6)	52.83±4.35		73.16±15.17		61.66±11.57
Religion	No (n=20)	58.65±8.08	−0.67 (.504)	84.00±16.99	−2.20 (.030)	66.45±8.02	−1.40 (.163)
	Yes (n=81)	59.86±7.04		92.34±14.69		69.69±9.49
Job	No (n=60)	57.88±6.23	−2.91 (.005)	88.48±16.25	−1.75 (.082)	68.60±9.97	−0.58 (.558)
	Yes (n=41)	62.17±7.90		93.92±13.74		69.70±8.23
Family income	<200K^a (n=57)	58.50±7.20	4.31 (.016)	85.21±16.60	10.14 (<.001)	66.96±9.98	5.27 (.007)
(K=10,000 won)	200–400K^b (n=20)	58.40±6.59	a<c	95.70±8.96	a<b, c	69.05±5.86	a<c
	>401K^c (n=24)	63.29±6.84		99.54±11.04		74.00±8.16
Education	≤Middle school^a (n=21)	55.61±7.65	2.96 (.004)	79.57±17.94	3.97 (<.001)	63.61±8.49	3.14 (.002)
	≥High school^b (n=80)	60.67±6.78		93.61±13.38		70.47±8.98

M±SD=mean±standard deviation.

Table 2.

Body Image, Sexual Intimacy, and Sexual Satisfaction According to Treatment and Health-Related Characteristics (N=101)

Variables	Categories	Body image		Sexual intimacy		Sexual satisfaction
		M±SD	t/F (p)	M±SD	t/F (p)	M±SD	t/F (p)
Cancer in other sites	No (n=90)	59.82±7.46	−0.78 (.433)	91.94±14.86	−2.38 (.019)	69.65±9.19	−1.90 (.060)
	Yes (n=11)	58.00±4.89		80.45±17.09		64.09±8.79
Mastectomy site	Unilateral (n=98)	59.87±7.13	2.34 (.043)	90.95±15.57	0.98 (.325)	69.32±9.26	1.73 (.086)
	Bilateral (n=3)	51.33±6.65		82.00±7.54		60.00±3.46
Cancer stage	Stage 0 (n=11)	62.54±5.82	1.38 (.245)	90.27±13.19	1.24 (.229)	70.72±8.67	1.06 (.381)
	Stage 1 (n=35)	59.60±6.65		86.94±16.00		66.51±7.80
	Stage 2 (n=37)	58.64±7.86		92.00±15.43		69.97±11.03
	Stage 3 (n=17)	59.17±7.42		94.76±15.14		70.94±8.04
	Stage 4 (n=1)	72.00		109.00		73.00
Period since surgery (months)	≤6 (n=74)	59.17±6.60	−0.90 (.372)	92.89±13.88	2.42 (.017)	69.83±9.88	1.42 (.158)
	7–12 (n=27)	60.85±8.76		84.66±18.04		66.88±7.06
Type of combination cancer therap	py
Chemotherapy only	No (n=56)	60.46±7.55	1.30 (.194)	88.50±15.12	−1.00 (.315)	68.21±8.56	−1.60 (.112)
	Yes (n=45)	58.57±6.75		93.42±15.58		70.08±10.09
Radiation only	No (n=89)	59.43±7.14	−0.70 (.486)	91.28±14.86	1.04 (.300)	69.01±9.56	−0.11 (.911)
	Yes (n=12)	61.00±8.06		86.33±19.44		69.33±7.11
Hormone only	No (n=81)	59.58±7.47	0.01 (.094)	90.79±16.11	0.16 (.900)	69.67±9.73	1.90 (.171)
	Yes (n=20)	59.80±6.33		90.30±12.76		66.50±6.72
Chemo+radiation	No (n=92)	59.58±7.19	0.02 (.871)	90.52±15.83	0.12 (.724)	69.01±9.58	0.01 (.894)
	Yes (n=9)	60.00±8.13		92.44±11.39		69.44±5.50
Chemo+hormone	No (n=87)	59.49±7.37	0.19 (.656)	90.33±16.23	0.33 (.562)	69.34±9.65	0.63 (.428)
	Yes (n=14)	60.42±6.48		92.92±9.27		67.21±6.37
Chemo+radiation+hormone	No (n=97)	59.42±7.14	1.90 (.170)	90.70±15.66	0.00 (.980)	69.03±9.46	0.01 (.922)
	Yes (n=4)	64.50±9.00		90.50±10.47		69.50±1.73
Wanted reconstruction	No (n=24)	60.50±8.20	−1.87 (.068)	86.20±19.56	0.55 (.579)	67.62±10.75	0.35 (.723)
	Yes (n=18)	56.00±6.91		89.27±14.55		68.83±11.02
Had reconstruction	No (n=42)	58.57±7.91	−1.23 (.219)	87.52±17.46	−1.68 (.096)	68.14±10.75	−0.78 (.432)
	Yes (n=59)	60.37±6.68		92.94±13.55		69.69±8.10
Having menstruation	No (n=73)	58.94±7.07	−1.53 (.129)	88.45±16.57	−2.96 (.004)	68.01±9.44	−1.83 (.070)
	Yes (n=28)	61.39±7.48		96.53±10.15		71.75±8.39
Total score	-	59.62±7.23	-	90.69±15.45	-	69.04±9.27	-

M±SD=mean±standard deviation.

Table 3.

Relationships among Subjects' Characteristics, Body Image, Sexual Intimacy, and Sexual Satisfaction (N=101)

Variables	Body image	Sexual intimacy	Sexual satisfaction
	r (p)	r (p)	r (p)
Body image	1
Sexual intimacy	.39 (<.001)	1
Sexual satisfaction	.45 (<.001)	.80 (<.001)	1
Age	−.16 (.110)	−.44 (.001)	−.34 (.002)
Job (1=yes)	.29 (.003)	.17 (.082)	.05 (.558)
Family income (1=above 2 million won)	.29 (.003)	.41 (.001)	.31 (.001)
Education (1=above high school)	.33 (.001)	.43 (.001)	.33 (.001)
Other cancer (1=yes)	.07 (.433)	.23 (.019)	.18 (.060)
Site of operation (1=both)	−.13 (.166)	−.04 (.648)	−.09 (.343)
Period since surgery	.13 (.191)	−.19 (.050)	−.12 (.210)
Chemotherapy (1=yes)	−.13 (.194)	.15 (.112)	.10 (.315)
No menstruation (1=yes)	−.15 (.129)	−.23 (.018)	−.18 (.070)

Table 4.

Factors Affecting Sexual Intimacy and Sexual Satisfaction (N=101)

Variables	Sexual intimacy		Sexual satisfaction
	Block			Block
	1	2	1	2	3
	β (p)	β (p)	β (p)	β (p)	β (p)
Age	−.26 (.031)	−.32 (.004)	−.19 (.127)	−.27 (.019)	−.03 (.659)
Job (1=yes)	.01 (.999)	−.07 (.394)	−.09 (.385)	−.19 (.052)	−.13 (.062)
Education (1=above high school)	.11 (.299)	.01 (.881)	.11 (.361)	−.01 (.900)	−.02 (.749)
Family income (1=above 2 million won)	.24 (.035)	.20 (.052)	.18 (.141)	.13 (.219)	−.01 (.855)
Period since surgery	−.17 (.068)	−.24 (.008)	−.10 (.345)	−.17 (.061)	−.01 (.988)
Cancer in other sites (1=yes)	.16 (.079)	.15 (.069)	.14 (.147)	.13 (.130)	.02 (.740)
Mastectomy site (1=bilateral)	.06 (.471)	.10 (.230)	.01 (.927)	.03 (.694)	−.03 (.539)
Chemotherapy (1=yes)	.12 (.170)	.14 (.088)	.07 (.482)	.09 (.295)	−.01 (.838)
No menstruation (1=yes)	.07 (.477)	.11 (.233)	.03 (.736)	.08 (.381)	.01 (.954)
Body image	-	.37 (<.001)	-	.46 (<.001)	.19 (.011)
Sexual intimacy	-	-	-	-	.74 (<.001)
F (p)	5.00 (<.001)	7.16 (<.001)	2.46 (.015)	5.32 (<.001)	17.00 (<.001)
Adj. R²	.265	.381	.116	.302	.638

β=standardized coefficients; Adj. R

² =adjusted coefficient of determination R

² .

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