Internet-Based Guided Self-Help for Vaginal Penetration Difficulties: Results of a Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Anna Carlotta Zarski
  • Matthias Berking
  • Christina Fackiner
  • Christian Rosenau
  • David Daniel Ebert

Introduction Difficulties with vaginal penetration can severely affect a woman's desire to have sexual intercourse, her sexual and general well-being, or her partnership. However, treatment opportunities for vaginismus are scarce. Aim To evaluate the efficacy of an internet-based guided self-help intervention for vaginismus in a randomized controlled pilot trial. Methods Seventy-seven women with vaginismus (primary inclusion criterion = no intercourse ≥ 6 months) were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG) and a waitlist control group (WCG). The intervention consisted of 10 sessions involving psychoeducation, relaxation exercises, sensate focus, and gradual exposure with dilators. Participants received written feedback on completed sessions from an eCoach. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was successful sexual intercourse. Secondary outcomes were non-intercourse penetration, fear of coitus, sexual functioning, and dyadic coping. Self-reported assessments were scheduled at baseline, 10 weeks, and 6 months. Results More participants (10 of 40, 34.48%) in the IG had intercourse compared with those in the WCG (6 of 37, 20.69%) at least once at 10 weeks or 6 months (odds ratio = 2.02). The difference was not significant (χ21 = 1.38, P = .38), but in the IG, there was a significant increase in intercourse penetration from baseline to 6 months (d = 0.65). No such increase was found in the WCG (d = 0.21). There were significant between-group effects concerning non-intercourse penetration (self-insertion of a finger or dilator or insertion by the partner) in favor of the IG. Fear of coitus and dyadic coping significantly decreased in the IG. Overall satisfaction with the training was high. Conclusion This randomized controlled trial showed promising effects of an internet-based intervention by increasing participants' ability to have intercourse and non-intercourse penetration while experiencing high treatment satisfaction. The WCG also showed improvement, although participants had vaginismus for an average duration of 6 years. Internet-based interventions could be a treatment modality to complement other methods in stepped care for vaginal penetration difficulties.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Sexual Medicine
Volume14
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)238-254
Number of pages17
ISSN1743-6095
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2017

    Research areas

  • Female Sexual Functioning, Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder, Internet Intervention, Randomized Controlled Trial, Sexual Dysfunction Disorder, Vaginismus
  • Psychology
  • Health sciences

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Felix Westermann

Projects

  1. Gesund im Beruf

Publications

  1. Potential bias in meta-analyses of effect sizes in imaging genetics
  2. What goes around, comes around? Access and allocation problems in Global North-South waste trade
  3. Sol-gel technology for greener and more sustainable antimicrobial textiles that use silica matrices with C, and Ag and ZnO as biocides
  4. Einführung in die systemnahe Programmierung
  5. How do distinct facets of tree diversity and community assembly respond to environmental variables in the subtropical Atlantic Forest?
  6. CODA - A Groupbase System For Cooperative Design Applications
  7. Complex Trait-Treatment-Interaction analysis
  8. Does it occur or not? - A structured approach to support students in determining the spontaneity of chemical reactions
  9. Thanking and responding to thanks in American English: Language patterning and contextual appropriateness
  10. Playing with Information
  11. Clusteranalyse als Methode zur Strukturierung großer Datenmodelle
  12. Datenkritik
  13. Home/Fronts
  14. The use of force against terrorists
  15. Investigation of temperature evolution and flash formation at AA5083 studs during friction surfacing
  16. How to Curate Diversity and Otherness in Global Performance Art
  17. Determinants of mandatory goodwill disclosure
  18. Soil texture and altitude, respectively, largely determine the floristic gradient of the most diverse fog oasis in the Peruvian desert
  19. Practices and Policies from Spaces of Possibilities to Institutional Innovations
  20. Absolute and relative maximum strength measures show differences in their correlations with sprint and jump performances in trained youth soccer players
  21. Role-Playing Games in Natural Resource Management and Research. Lessons Learned from Theory and Practice
  22. Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Environmental Management Accounting
  23. Relative wage positions and quit behavior
  24. Daily breath-based mindfulness exercises in a randomized controlled trial improve primary school children’s performance in arithmetic
  25. How attribution-of-competence and scale-granularity explain the anchor precision effect in negotiations and estimations.
  26. From deforestation to blossom
  27. Rating Player Actions in Soccer
  28. Non-target Analysis and Chemometric Evaluation of a Passive Sampler Monitoring of Small Streams
  29. How selective are real wage cuts?
  30. Supporting non-hierarchical supply chain networks in the electronics industry
  31. Public Value
  32. "Helden des Alltags"