(003) PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON SEXUAL DISTRESS RELATED TO PARTNERED SEXUAL ACTIVITY: UNDERSTANDING SEXUALLY DISTRESSED HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE’S EXPERIENCES THROUGH A QUALITATIVE LENS
Authors: Pascoal PM , Manão AA 
Published: December 2024

Introduction

Sexual distress is a key factor in diagnosing sexual dysfunctions. Despite its clinical relevance, this distress can also be found in people without criteria for having a formal diagnosis, being associated with poorer mental health and worse relationship quality. However, research on sexual distress related to partnered sexual activity has been limited, and no comprehensive model exists to guide research or clinical intervention on it.

Objective

We aim to broaden our understanding of this field by thoroughly examining how laypeople with self-reported distressing sexual problems describe their experience of distress during partnered sexual activity. Through an online questionnaire, we asked: “Based on your personal experience, what is distress related to sexual activity?”. We also intend to determine if the participants are currently or have attended clinical sexology sessions and, if not, the reasons why.

Methods

This study is part of a larger project about transdiagnostic processes associated with sexual distress. For this study, 439 heterosexual people (Mage = 41.06, SD = 12.19) with distressing sexual problems during sexual activity participated, of which 306 self-identified as women (69.7%), 132 as men (30.1%) and 1 as a non-binary person (0.2%). Most participants were Portuguese (96.35%) in a monogamous relationship (75.6%). We performed reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

In the preliminary results, we created 3 themes regarding distress related to sexual activity: (1) Sexual (dys)function (It’s the genital function!), which focused on distressing problems related to genitals and those usually described as compatible with a diagnosis of sexual dysfunction (erectile problems); (2) Relationship dynamics (It’s us!), which focused on relationship problems (e.g., difficulties in communicating sexual preferences, sexual boredom with the partner); (3) It’s me!, which centered on physical clinical conditions (e.g., gynaecological problems), psychological problems (e.g., depression), negative beliefs about sex (e.g., sex as dirty) and personality traits (e.g., perfectionism) that impact sexual activity. Most participants (56.8%) had not attended clinical sessions but wanted to do so. A portion of the sample (25.2%) had either already attended or had clinical sessions at the time of the study. Additionally, 13.6% expressed a desire to have clinical sessions but stated that they were unable to do so. The reasons for not attending clinical sessions yet included financial and time constraints, considering sexual problems to be secondary problems, health professionals downplaying the problems, lack of confidence in the effectiveness of clinical sessions, not wanting to discuss the problems with their partner, or the partner not being interested in having clinical sessions.

Conclusions

Our preliminary results highlight that people who report distress related to partnered sexual activity or sexual function often focus on non-genital aspects. This finding aligns with the current approach to sexual dysfunctions in the DSM and ICD, which emphasizes the contextual nature of sexual dysfunctions and acknowledges both individual and interpersonal factors in diagnosis. Our study innovatively shows that some factors, like communication problems, are themselves perceived as sexual problems during sexual activity, moving beyond a model primarily focused on genital performance. The final results will be presented at the congress after further analysis.

Disclosure

No.