Journal of Social Behavior and Community Health
J Social Behav Communit Health
Medical Sciences
http://sbrh.ssu.ac.ir
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admin
2783-2104
en
jalali
1405
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gregorian
2026
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online
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fulltext
en
Sexual Health Literacy among Unmarried Men Attending Premarital Counseling Center: A Cross-sectional Study in Northwest Iran
سواد سلامت
Health Literacy
Original Article
<span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Background:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"> Sexual health literacy (SHL) is an important predictor of an individual's sexual behavior. However, little is known about this issue among Iranian</span></span> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">men. This study aimed to determine sexual health literacy in </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">unmarried men attending the premarital counseling center in an Iranian setting.</span></span></span></span></span><br>
<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Methods</span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">: This analytic cross-sectional study was conducted in Ardabil Province between April and October 2023 on unmarried men who referred to the only premarital counseling center. A total of 384 eligible men were included in the study via a simple random sampling method. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and a standardized SHELA questionnaire and were then analyzed using SPSS software version 27.</span></span></span></span></span><br>
<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Results</span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">: Over 50% of the participants had adequate (36%) and excellent (23%) SHL. The results revealed that men’s educational level was significantly associated with SHL and all of its dimensions (P<0.05). Additionally, there was a significant correlation between men's occupation and their ability to access SHL (P<0.05), and urban men had lower SHL levels than rural men (P<0.05).</span></span></span></span></span><br>
<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%">Conclusions:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"> The findings suggest that more than half of the unmarried men had adequate or excellent SHL. Factors such as education, occupation, and place of residence had a significant relationship with SHL. Government organizations and stakeholders should develop policies and programs to improve comprehensive sexual health literacy programs for them.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br>
Sexual health, literacy, Men, Counseling
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http://sbrh.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-569-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1
Mehrnaz
Mashoufi
rosemashoufi@yahoo.com