Korean J Rehabil Nurs.  1999 Dec;2(2):176-183.

A Comparative Study on the Sexual Interest and Sexual Adjustment between the Unmarried and the Married with Spinal Cord Injuries

• Kang HS
• Suh YO

Abstract

Sexual life is one of the most important things for the quality of living, which nobody can ignore. Especially, spinal cord injury is one of the most typical disabilities, which can cause abrupt changes of sexuality. Hence, sexual adjustment and its subordinate problems have to be dealt with among various problems caused by spinal cord injury. The purpose of this study was to comparative sexual interest and adjustment between the married and the unmarried people with SCI. A total of 134 persons who were registered members of SCI organization and admitted rehabilitation unit between February and June 1999 were included in the study. The sample consisted of 69 unmarried and 64 married people with SCI. Participants answered the 15 items concerning sexual interest. sexual adjustment. The results are as follows: 1) The mean score of sexual interest for the unmarried was 16.4. From seven topics related to sexuality, the greatest interest was to cope emotionally with changes in sexual functioning. For the married. mean score of sexual interest was 13.8 and the greatest interest was to help a partner cope emotionally with limitation on sexual dysfunction. There were significant difference sexual interest between two groups(t= 3.75. p=.00). 2) Each mean score for sexual adjustment in the married and the unmarried was 20.0, 19.6. There were no significance difference sexual interest between two groups(t= .24, p= .811). However, there was a statistically significant difference of sexual interest. 3) Sexual interests and adjustments are not correlated in case of the unmarried that have r score=.224. while they are corrlated in case of the married that have r=.398. Because the average age of the SCI becomes lower and lower. sexual rehabilitation programs should be given the unmarried as well as the married with SCI. In conclusion, the spinal injured's major concerns about their sexual life are different between the married and the unmarried - the unmarried are interested in practical problems such as methods and techniques to achieve sexual satisfaction and their fertility, while the married give priority to considerations about their spouse. Paying attention to different sexual interest according to marital status. we should make two different sexual rehabilitation programs for each group. One program including support groups with their sposes for the married, the other program to give a chance to solve problems of sexuality for the unmarried with SCI.

MeSH Terms

Fertility
Humans
Marital Status
Rehabilitation
Self-Help Groups
Sexuality
Single Person*
Spinal Cord Injuries*
Spinal Cord*
Spouses