Effect of communication skills based group counseling on mothers' sex dialogue with their adolescent daughters

Background Sex dialogue is one of the most critical and challenging topics between mothers and adolescents. The knowledge and skills of mothers in sex dialogue with their daughters are essential. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of group counseling based on communication skills on mothers through their sex dialogue with their daughters. Methods A randomized controlled field trial was conducted on 168 couples of mothers and their daughters selected by the stratified matching method and randomly divided into two control and intervention groups. The mothers in the intervention group participated in a communication-based consultation in groups consisting of 6-12 people for 6-7 weekly sessions, each one lasting 60 min. The data collection tool was a Persian-translated questionnaire by Jaccard for sex dialogue between mother and daughter. The data were analyzed using Chi-square (χ2), ANOVA with repeated measures and modified post hoc Bonferroni tests. Results There was a significant difference in the mean score of mother-daughter sex dialogue 1 week after intervention between the intervention (34.48 ± 8.74) and control (40.44 ± 9.49) groups (p = 0.001) and 1 month after the intervention between the intervention (30.41 ± 10.07) and control (42.47 ± 9.62) groups (p < 0.001). Conclusion Through applying communication skills, an increase in mother-daughter sex dialogue frequency was observed after group counseling. Therefore, it is suggested to promote mother-daughter communication skills by accessing the mothers via schools, health centers and with the aid of midwifery counselors, midwives and other trained caretakers.