Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 110 couples before marriage, who were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group was subjected to two 60-minute sexual counseling sessions whereas the control group received only the routine training in this regard. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 21) using independent and dependent t tests. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: In this study, the mean score of sexual self-efficacy within the intervention group decreased from 20.61±6.05 before attending the counseling sessions to 17.34±4.89 three months after the intervention. However, the mean score of sexual self-efficacy within the control group represented a decrease from 17.87±5.49 to 17.45±5.86. Moreover, mean changes in the sexual self-efficacy scores of females in the intervention and control groups were -3.27±1.16 and -0.42±0.37, respectively. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control groups regarding the mean score of the sexual self-efficacy of females after the intervention (P = 0.01). In addition, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean score of sexual function among females (P = 0.0001).

Conclusions: In summary, educational interventions and pre-marital counseling with regard to sexual health helped improve the marital relationships of couples.