جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « خشنونت » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

As a medical procedure, hymen examination is influenced by various cultural and social factors. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the reasons and consequences of girls' virginity examination from the perspective of midwives.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 210 employed midwives in Tabriz in the year 2021. Sampling method was simple random sampling. Data on the reasons and consequences of virginity examination from the perspective of midwives were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 21 software and descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA tests, with p<0.05 considered significant.Ethical Considerations:Ethical principles in the present study included: clarifying the research objectives to participants, obtaining written informed consent, maintaining privacy and data confidentiality,providing the opportunity to leave the research at any study satge.

56.2% of midwives believed that hymen examination hasno therapeutic value and should not be performed. The majority (81.9%) agreed to perform virginity examination for the purpose of investigating sexual abuse and exploitation. 62% of individuals opposed virginity examination for issuing virginity certificates to girls before marriage. The majority (86.1%) believed that virginity examination is a violation of privacy and causes physical discomfort (74.7%), mental distress (86.1%), exacerbation of gender inequality (75.7%) and increase in physical and verbal violence (62.9%) and honor killings (55.8%).There were statistically significant associations between the causes for midwives' willingness to perform or not perform virginity examinations and ethnicity (P=0.018), personal history of virginity examination (P<0.001) and place of employment (P=0.003). Additionally, there were statistically significant associations between the consequencesof virginity examinations and the level of education (P=0.038), ethnicity (P=0.037), place of residence (P<0.001), place of employment (P=0.013) and the number of virginity examinations performed by midwives(P=0.022).

The study reveals that most midwives view hymen examinations as significant violations of women's rights and sources of physical and mental stress.Consequently, midwives, as key members of health care providers, can be instrumental in raisingawareness, providing educationand promoting cultural change. They can help dispel false beliefs, respect human dignity and privacyand shift the focus from the issue of virginity to other human aspects.