The Psychosexual Educational Partners Program (PEPP) demonstrated feasibility as a 6-week sexual health self-management intervention for couples affected by breast or gynecological cancer, with an attrition rate of 22% meeting the feasibility benchmark and showing promising improvements in sexual communication.
PEPP met the pre-specified feasibility benchmark for attrition, with 77% of enrolled couples completing the study.
Intervention adherence across participating couples was 85%.
Dyadic sexual communication showed the largest improvement among the quantitative outcomes measured, with a medium effect size.
Relationship quality as measured by the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale declined slightly after the intervention.
Women with breast or gynecological cancer showed small improvements in sexual desire and satisfaction following the intervention.
Intimate partners experienced a small decrease in sexual desire following the intervention.
Qualitative analysis revealed two themes indicating that PEPP facilitated difficult conversations and impacted both emotional and physical intimacy.
Accessing sexual health care is challenging for women with breast or gynecological cancer and their partners due to limited trained providers and privacy concerns.
This research suggests that a 6-week home-based educational program called PEPP (Psychosexual Educational Partners Program) is a feasible way to help couples cope with sexual health challenges after breast or gynecological cancer treatment. The study enrolled 9 couples and found that 7 (77%) completed the program, with an 85% adherence rate to program activities — both results meeting or exceeding the researchers' goals for a pilot study. Couples reported that the program helped them start difficult conversations and improved both their emotional and physical intimacy. In terms of measurable outcomes, the most notable improvement was in sexual communication between partners, with a medium-sized effect. Women also showed small improvements in sexual desire and satisfaction. Interestingly, relationship quality scores dipped slightly and intimate partners' desire scores decreased slightly, though these were small effects in a very small sample. These mixed signals highlight the complexity of addressing sexual health as a couple after cancer. This research suggests that a self-managed, couples-based approach could help fill an important gap in cancer survivorship care, particularly since many survivors struggle to access specialized sexual health providers. The authors note that a larger randomized controlled trial would be needed to confirm whether PEPP is truly effective, but these early results support moving forward with such a trial.
Arring N, Reese J, Lafferty C, Barton D, Carter J. (2025). A Sexual Health Self-Management Intervention (Psychosexual Educational Partners Program) for Couples With a History of Breast and Gynecological Cancer: Mixed Methods Feasibility Study.. JMIR formative research. https://doi.org/10.2196/75743