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An Underestimated Human Need After Renal Transplantation: Sexuality

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Abstract

Sexual health is a subject that can generally be overlooked in follow-up examinations after transplantation. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of sexuality and sexual health care requirements of patients following kidney transplantation. The data were examined of 98 patients who underwent renal transplantation in the Nephrology Polyclinic between May and October 2019. The data were collected using a data collection form prepared by the researchers with the benefit of previous literature. The data obtained were evaluated using percentages, mean and standard deviation values and the Chi-square test. The patients comprised 57.1% males and 42.9% females with a mean age of 42.2 ± 12.09 years (range 21–71 years), Following transplantation, 52% of the patients reported an improvement in the quality of sex life, 79.6% an increase in sexual desire, and 70.5% an increase in sexual satisfaction. We determined that 52.0% of the patients could not comfortably ask healthcare personnel about sex-life-related problems. Sexuality after transplantation was stated to have had an effect on sex life. The researchers also found that support of the spouse and a change in the relationship with the spouse affected sex life after transplantation. We determined that the sex lives of both male and female patients were affected after renal transplantation. Despite problems related to sexual functioning in the period after renal transplantation, there was seen to be a need for information and counselling about sexual problems by all the patients, regardless of gender.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

    Öznur Körükcü

  2. Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, School of Medicine, Sütçü Imam University, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

    Ömer Faruk Boran & Feyza Çalışır

  3. Department of Nephrology, School of Medicine, Sütçü Imam University, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

    Özkan Güngör, Fatma Betül Güzel & Mehmet Kutludemırkol

  4. Intensive Care Units, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Amasya University, Amasya, Turkey

    Maruf Boran

  5. Private Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

    Zeyneb Bakacak

  6. Department of General Surgery, School of Medicine, Sütçü Imam University, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

    Mehmet Buğra Bozan

Authors
  1. Öznur Körükcü
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  2. Ömer Faruk Boran
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  3. Özkan Güngör
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  4. Maruf Boran
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  5. Zeyneb Bakacak
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  6. Mehmet Buğra Bozan
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  7. Feyza Çalışır
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  8. Fatma Betül Güzel
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  9. Mehmet Kutludemırkol
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ömer Faruk Boran.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

Ethical confirmation for this study was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Kahramanmaraş Sütcü Imam University Medical Faculty (Decision No. 10, dated: 30/04/2019).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for taking part in this study and tape-recording the interviews.

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Körükcü, Ö., Boran, Ö.F., Güngör, Ö. et al. An Underestimated Human Need After Renal Transplantation: Sexuality. Sex Disabil 38, 699–714 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-020-09647-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-020-09647-y

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