Agenda Item Details
Day 3   Friday Oct 13, 2017
9:00 - 10:00am
Plenary Keynote - Perinatal Sexual Health
Description

Risk and Protective Factors for the Perinatal Sexual Health of Women and Couples

 

The transition to parenthood – from pregnancy through the first year postpartum – presents many unique joys and challenges to new parents, including changes to their sexual relationship. This presentation will highlight the prevalence and significance of sexual concerns – such as genito-pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, and sexual distress – faced by women and couples in both pregnancy and postpartum. The presentation will outline research examining several risk and protective factors for genito-pelvic pain, sexual function and satisfaction, and relationship well-being during this period. Importantly, considering perinatal sexual health from a couples’ perspective (i.e. including the partner) will be emphasized. Potential clinical applications of this research will also be discussed.

 

Learning Objectives:

●   Identify common sexual concerns of both new mothers and their partners, relevant to the perinatal period.

●   Recognize psychological predictors of pain, sexual, and relationship well-being in pregnancy and postpartum. 

●   Consider ways to assess and offer brief intervention to new parents who are struggling with their sexual relationship in pregnancy or postpartum.

 

Presenter: Natalie Rosen, PhD, R Psych, Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS

 

Presenter's Background

Dr. Natalie Rosen is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience and Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She completed her doctoral work at McGill University in 2009 followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Université de Montréal in 2012. Dr. Rosen’s research interests focus on understanding how individuals, and especially couples, cope with sexual health problems, particularly in the transition to parenthood. Her goal is to identify predictors of sexual and relationship well-being of new parents over time, and then to translate her findings into interventions aimed at enhancing couples’ well-being. She is an Associate Editor of the journal “Archives of Sexual Behavior” and has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on sexual health and relationships. Dr. Rosen’s research is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the IWK Health Centre, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

 

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