Iranian university students’ perceived reproductive health needs
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Zohreh Shahhosseini
Abstract
Aim: One proposed strategy to improve youth health is needs assessment, a process for determining and addressing the needs of individual groups. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of Iranian university students toward reproductive health needs, in order to promote the provision of reproductive health services.
Methods: Using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 548 students who were randomly selected from eight universities in Sari City, Iran. Topics covered the participants’ attitudes towards reproductive health needs as well as their opinion about proper sources of information in this area, as measured using a 5-point Likert scale.
Results: The mean age of participants was 21.57 years, and 57.82% were female. The maximum score of perceived reproductive health needs was related to “Be informed about appropriate behavior with my spouse”, and the majority of students (82.82%) supported family-based reproductive health education with emphasis on the mothers’ role. Although 65.14% of the participants agreed that “When a young has been raped, it’s better that she/he counsel with her/his family”, 11.67% of them stated that she/he must hide the problem. Finally, we found that 60.40% of the students preferred someone in a health care center as the one to explain how to use any contraception that may be provided for them.
Conclusion: Taken as a whole, these findings support the critical importance of programming for university students as part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the health and development of young adults.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the participation of students as well as university staff, whose contribution helped in the completion of this study.
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© 2014 by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Healthy eating and physical activity
- Reviews
- A comprehensive review of mental health gatekeeper-trainings for adolescents and young adults
- A conceptual framework for early adolescence: a platform for research
- Original Articles
- Body image satisfaction and self-esteem in Thai female adolescents: the moderating role of self-compassion
- Iranian university students’ perceived reproductive health needs
- An exploration of adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury and religious coping
- Adolescents’ view of health concept and its risk factors: a literature review
- Suicide attempts and suicides in Bolivia from 2007 to 2012: pesticides are the preferred method – females try but males commit suicide!
- Predictive factors and psychosocial effects of Internet addictive behaviors in Cypriot adolescents
- Nutrition, lifestyle factors, and mental health in adolescents and young adults living in Austria
- University students’ point of views to facilitators and barriers to sexual and reproductive health services
- The context of alcohol consumption among adolescents and their families
- Determinants of condom use at sexual debut among young Vietnamese
- Associations between sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation in adolescents admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit
- Body size preferences among young women in five Arab countries: a cross-cultural study
- Drug knowledge of expatriate adolescents in the United Arab Emirates and their attitudes towards self-medication
- Perspectives of clinical medical directors in child and adolescent psychiatry: diagnostic and treatment needs of migrant families
- Factors associated with physical inactivity among female and male rural adolescents in Borneo – a cross-sectional study
- Book Review
- Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Daniel J. Siegel M.D
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Healthy eating and physical activity
- Reviews
- A comprehensive review of mental health gatekeeper-trainings for adolescents and young adults
- A conceptual framework for early adolescence: a platform for research
- Original Articles
- Body image satisfaction and self-esteem in Thai female adolescents: the moderating role of self-compassion
- Iranian university students’ perceived reproductive health needs
- An exploration of adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury and religious coping
- Adolescents’ view of health concept and its risk factors: a literature review
- Suicide attempts and suicides in Bolivia from 2007 to 2012: pesticides are the preferred method – females try but males commit suicide!
- Predictive factors and psychosocial effects of Internet addictive behaviors in Cypriot adolescents
- Nutrition, lifestyle factors, and mental health in adolescents and young adults living in Austria
- University students’ point of views to facilitators and barriers to sexual and reproductive health services
- The context of alcohol consumption among adolescents and their families
- Determinants of condom use at sexual debut among young Vietnamese
- Associations between sleep disturbance and suicidal ideation in adolescents admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit
- Body size preferences among young women in five Arab countries: a cross-cultural study
- Drug knowledge of expatriate adolescents in the United Arab Emirates and their attitudes towards self-medication
- Perspectives of clinical medical directors in child and adolescent psychiatry: diagnostic and treatment needs of migrant families
- Factors associated with physical inactivity among female and male rural adolescents in Borneo – a cross-sectional study
- Book Review
- Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Daniel J. Siegel M.D
