Body image and quality of sexual life in womenafter natural childbirth and caesarean section– preliminary report

Aim. To examine body image and quality of sex life in women after vaginal delivery and cesarean section. Material and methods. The study was conducted at the turn of 2023 and 2024 in the Lubelskie Voivodeship. Inclusion criteria: 18 years of age or older, consent to participate in the study, period from the 6th week of childbirth to the end of the 6th month after childbirth. The study included 93 women who had given birth vaginally and 71 women who had undergone a caesarean section. A diagnostic survey method was used, incorporating the authors’ own questionnaire and standardised tools, i.e. the Body Esteem Scale (BES) and the Sexual Quality of Life-Female Questionnaire (SQoL-F). Results. The women are moderately satisfied with their bodies in terms of physical attractiveness (M = 46.2; SD = 8.66), weight control (M = 32.18; SD = 8.97) and physical fitness (M = 30.79; SD = 7.08). They are also quite satisfied with their sex life (M = 71.45; SD = 24.14). Conclusions. Only a few respondents had resumed sexual activity within 6 weeks after giving birth, regardless of whether they had a vaginal delivery or a caesarean section. By the end of the 12th week postpartum, every second woman in both groups had resumed sexual activity. The majority of respondents did not notice any changes in the frequency of their sexual activity, and the quality of their sex life was rather satisfactory. They also reported average satisfaction with their own bodies in each domain.