Network Analysis of Sexual Well-Being in Women with Heart Failure: The Psychocardiological Perspective

Sexuality is an important sphere of every person's life. Sexual dysfunctions and sexual dissatisfaction may also be present in cardiac diseases. Individuals affected by heart failure (HF) deserve special attention since it can be the final stage of many cardiac diseases. Therefore, it is important to verify potential correlates of sexual well-being in individuals with HF. This study was conducted online between 2019 and 2023, and 262 Polish women aged between 18 and 59 years (M = 45.48; SD = 7.65) participated in it. The Short Sexual Well-Being Scale, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, Fatigue Assessment Scale, and authors' questionnaire were used. Relationships between tested variables were verified with the use of network analysis performed with the EBICglasso estimator. Centrality assessment showed that sexual well-being had the highest values of betweenness, closeness and degree, followed by fatigue and depression measures. Sexual well-being was negatively related to the number of declared sexual dysfunctions, fatigue, stress and depression levels. Participants' age and HF duration were not related to the sexual well-being of tested women. Multiple additional partial correlations were detected. The obtained results show that sexuality may be a central sphere of life in women with HF and that one's sexuality should not be negated when working with cardiac patients.