Sexual Health Literacy and the Related Factors among Women in Qazvin, Iran

Sexual health literacy is a context-based variable affected by the ecosystem or a set of cultural and social factors of each community. This study aimed to determine sexual health literacy and the related factors.

This was a cross-sectional study. The population of this study was 305 women referring to the health centers of Qazvin, Iran. Sampling was done through a one-stage cluster method. The data collection tool was a demographic and the standard questionnaire sexual health literacy for adults. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and descriptive statistics and logistic regression.

In this study, 44.9% of women were under 30 years old. The mean±SD of sexual health literacy was 76.89±18.32. Women had 7.9% inadequate sexual health literacy, 9.5% had inadequate sexual health literacy, 50.1% had adequate sexual health literacy, and 32.5% had excellent sexual health literacy. The results of the logistic regression test showed that the variables of education level, spouse education level, and use of contraceptives affect women's health literacy (p<0.05).

Women with a lower education level, women whose spouses had low education levels, and women who did not use contraceptives had lower sexual health literacy. Therefore, according to the role of sexual health literacy in understanding, accepting, and applying sexual health messages, it is suggested that researchers and health providers pay more attention to the mentioned women in designing educational programs to promote women's sexual health literacy.