The Relationship between Sexual Health Literacy, Self-Care, and Sexual Life Quality among Married Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zahedan, Iran

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MSc, Epidemiology, Student Research and Technology Committee, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Health Education and Promotion, Department of Public Health, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

3 Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objective: Given the importance of quality of sexual life in individual satisfaction and family health, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between sexual health literacy, sexual self-care, and the quality of sexual life among married women in Zahedan in 2024.

Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 460 women who were selected by multi-stage sampling method. Valid and reliable instruments were used to collect data, including the standard questionnaires of sexual health literacy (SHELA), sexual self-care and Simond sexual quality of life. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests, one-way analysis of variance, independent t-test and bivariate correlation in SPSS 22 software. Predictors were also determined using hierarchical linear regression analysis.

Results: The mean age was 33±7.2 years. Education, occupation, number of children, and marriage age were significantly associated with SHL and self-care (p=0.001). Hierarchical regression showed demographic factors explained 53% of SQoL variance. Adding SHL increased variance to 60% (ΔR²=0.07), and including self-care brought the total to 82% (ΔR²=0.22). Key predictors were promoting sexual health (β=0.13), cancer prevention (β=0.11), and analysis skills (β=0.10).

Conclusion: The findings of this study emphasize the importance of promoting sexual health literacy and sexual self-care education in improving the quality of sexual life of women. It is suggested that educational programs and health interventions in this field be designed and implemented to help improve women's sexual health and quality of life.

Keywords

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the staff of the comprehensive health service centers of Zahedan who cooperated in data collection.


Availability of data and materials: Data will be available upon request from the corresponding author.


Conflicts of interest: None of the authors has a conflict of interest with the respect to the authorship and or publication of this article.


Consent for publication: Not applicable. 


Ethical Approval and consent to participate: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was registered with the University's Research and Technology Committee (11460) and received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Zauedan University of Medical Sciences (code: IR.ZAUMS.REC.1403.237). Participants were given a full explanation of the study and its objectives, and those willing to participate provided written informed consent. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


Funding: The authors did not receive any financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article.


Author Contributions: Authors’ contributions Fatemeh Limoparvar developed the study, collected data, drafted, wrote the manuscript, and translated manuscript. Maryam Seraji supervised the study, developed the study, and interpreted the results. Zahra Arab Borzoo was the study consultant, performed the statistical analyses, and interpreted the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

 

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Journal of Health Literacy

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Available Online from 29 November 2025

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