Sexual functioning among breast cancer, gynecologic cancer, and healthy women.

Abstract

An investigation was conducted to determine the specific type of sexual functioning deficits and the relationship between global sexual satisfaction and adjustment in two related life areas, the marital relationship and a woman’s body image, for two groups of cancer patients at high risk for sexual difficulties. Analyses revealed that the aspects of sexual functioning for matched samples of breast cancer patients and gynecologic cancer patients that differed from those of healthy women were the frequency of sexual behaviors and the level of sexual arousal. Whereas women’s evaluations of their current sexual life had no relationship to their marital adjustment ratings, analyses suggested that body image disruption may be a prevalent problem for gynecologic cancer patients.