Sexuality after breast cancer: cultural specificities of Tunisian population

Introduction: Women’s sexuality may be particularly affected after breast cancer. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the changes insexual life after treatment of breast cancer in Tunisian women and to identify the influence of demographic and clinical factors on sexuality.Methods: We recruited 50 patients who were in remission for at least 3 months after initial treatment of breast cancer. Sexuality and body imagewere evaluated using the Arabic version of the specific scale of breast cancer QLQ-BR23. Screening for emotional disorders has been done with theArabic version of HAD scale (Hospital anxiety and depression scale). Results: Patients had poor sexual functioning and sexual satisfaction and themean scores were respectively 45.3% and 43.9%. Only menopausal status and sexual difficulties in the partner was significantly related to poorersexual satisfaction (p respectively 0.018 and 0.014). According to the HAD scale, 42% of patients had anxiety and 44% had depression. The sexualsatisfaction was statistically associated with the presence of anxiety symptoms (p=0.0003). Conclusion: Results suggest that the psychologicalside and the sexual difficulties in partner are the most important factors that appear to be involved in sexual satisfaction of Tunisian women afterbreast cancer. So, those factors need to be taken into account in therapeutic process and psychological counseling to maintain and enhancepatient’s psychological well-being