The self-care situation analysis of reproductive-aged women in Tehran: a survey study

• Published in: BMC women's health 2023-11, Vol.23 (1), p.624-624, Article 624
• Main Authors: Simbar, Masoumeh, Kiani, Zahra, Nasiri, Zeinab, KhodaKarami, Nahid, Nazarpour, Soheila, Fakari, Farzaneh Rashidi, Keyvanfar, Sepideh, Majd, Hamid Alavi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abortion; Activities of daily living; Adult; Age groups; Analysis; Consent; Critical path; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Disease prevention; Domestic violence; Education; Evaluation; Examinations; Family size; Female; Gynecology; Health aspects; Health behavior; Health education; Health needs; Health promotion; Health services; Houses; Humans; Iran; Methods; Middle aged women; Questionnaires; Reproductive health; Sample size; Self Care; Self-care, Health; Sexual behavior; Sexual health; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sociodemographics; STD; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Variance analysis; Women; Women's Health; Womens health
• ISSN: 1472-6874; 1472-6874
• DOI: 10.1186/s12905-023-02763-9

Along with a global increase in the prevalence of infectious and non-communicable diseases, self-care with an emphasis on reproductive health Self-care has received special attention. Given the importance of women's health, assessment of their self-care status using a valid and reliable tool seems to be necessary to determine the needs for future women's reproductive health promotion interventions. The present study aimed to assess the women's self-care at reproductive age in Tehran, to determine women's health needs based on global guidelines for women's health. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study on 1051 women of reproductive age, living in Tehran. The Subjects were recruited using a multi-stage sampling method. The women completed a socio-demographic and valid and reliable questionnaire to assess their self-care status. The data were analyzed using SPSS 24 and by Pearson, Spearman, ANOVA, and regression tests. The mean score of self-care was 49.57 ± 23.50% in the reproductive-aged women. The lowest scores were related to psychosocial health (32.12 ± 29.93%) and reproductive-sexual health (49.74 ± 27.99%) respectively. There were significant positive correlations between the self-care and women's education level (r = 0.180; p < 0.01), and husband's education level (r = 0.272; p < 0.01), while there was a negative significant correlation between the self-care and the family size (r = - 0.135; p < 0.01). The findings showed inadequate self-care among reproductive-aged women in Tehran. The most important challenge in their self-care behaviors was related to psychosocial and reproductive-sexual health. It seems to provide a package for promoting women's self-care in four areas of physical, psychosocial, reproductive-sexual health, and screening tests, with an emphasis on the first two priorities, namely psychosocial and reproductive health necessary in Tehran.