Reproductive health training program on students in iran: an action research approach
Fatemeh Yari,
1,* Zahra behboodi moghadam ,
2 Soror parvizy ,
3 Nahid dehghan nayeri ,
4 Masomeh ghafarzadeh ,
5
1. Lorestan university of medical sciences
2. Tehran university of medical sciences
3. Iran university of medical sciences
4. Tehran university of medical sciences
5. Lorestan university of medical sciences
Abstract
Introduction
Transition from adolescence to adulthood is one of the important periods in the individual life. new behaviors are learned during this period easier than adulthood. therefore, special attention has to be necessarily paid to this period in order to promote the health. this study aimed to evaluate the needs of sexual and reproductive health in the young students. this approach was done at the university of lorestan.
Methods
This study was an action research approach which was based on an action research cycle. in order to evaluate the students' reproductive health problems, the participants were assessed by a deep and semi-structured interview as the main method for collecting data. 25 participants were interviewed in the 25 sessions that each session consisted of a deep and semi-structured interview which was lasted between 40 to 90 minutes. in order to enrich information about reproductive health issues, group-interviews were set in 2 sessions. 10 individuals were participated in group interview that each session was lasted between 75 to 120 minutes. researcher extracted some problems through the interviews and created a list, in order to clarify the reasons of the problems and the possible solutions, two group-interviews with 35 people who had the most trouble were held. these participants included 19 female students of the faculty of science, 6 individuals from lorestan university, and 4 of reproductive health specialists, 4 personnel's of lorestan university and 2 professors of the project. two sessions for prioritizing and determining the type of intervention with the research team and students, were held. afterward, some programs were designed due to extract the problems. then, at a later stage (stage acting or run) the recommendations were implemented. the need of designing the questionnaire was felt due to the interventions and their effectiveness. the structure of the primordial questionnaire was designed according to the data from qualitative study and available questionnaires. this study was conducted between april and may 2015.
Results
The data were examined based on content analysis. the results revealed three themes and seven categories from qualitative part of study. themes were included: image of fertility as pregnancy, the taboo of sexuality, the lack of communication between parents and children. these findings were the source of problems that obtained from action research and group-interviews. these seven categories were included: the lack of information and the proper awareness about reproductive health, the lack of media attention to the sexual and the reproductive health‐related issues, the lack of books about the reproductive health for non‐ medical students, the cultural barriers and the modesty about sexual and the reproductive health issues, indifferent population to the reproductive health issues, assurance the independence of children and the lack of children control. these categories were investigated to follow up and problem solving. the results illustrated that these strategies enhanced the reproductive health of students. with the cooperation of the supreme of lorestan university, reproductive health center established and many reproductive health services were provided to students at the university. one of the most important results derived from this study was the rule of the media to improve the level of students’ knowledge in 40% of cases.
Conclusion
The results have showed that the students' awareness about reproductive health issues is very scant, as the means of most items before the intervention 1/61 and after the intervention was3/056 and p<0.05, and 99% confidence level showed a significant difference. according to the data, university authorities should provide some opportunities for students to solve problems.
Keywords
Reproductive health, woman, student,action research, training program
