Evaluation of knowledge level of couples referring to marriage consultation centers about proper (safe, responsible, enjoyable) sexual relation

Parsay sousan (Ph.D.), Nahidi shizar (M.D), Modarresi jabiz (M.D)

Department of public health & social medicine, faculty of medicine, Shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences, Evin avenue, Tehran, Iran

Objective: Marriage is the most basic, essential and sacred form of human relationship, which in its correct definition consists of dynamic physical and psychological communication between couples. A unique aspect of marriage is safe, enjoyable and responsible sexual relation, and human sexual behaviors have become tremendously complicated. Ever since the international population and development conference (Beijing 1995) which made it mandatory for, the world to provide the youth with the appropriate information about sexual relation and the lack of proper knowledge about the issue may lead to unwanted pregnancies, STD, anxiety, dissatisfaction and divorce. In this regards the final priority seems to have reliable statistical evaluation of the knowledge of target population about these matters. This study was designed to equip us with the necessary information for further research and educational program in Iran.

Design and methods: A cross sectional study was performed to ascertain the knowledge level of the couples referring to marriage consultation centers in Tehran about proper sexual relation. 150 couples were selected randomly. The information was gathered by a questionnaire with 31 questions. Gender, age group, educational level and knowledge score and level were the main variables under the study. All the information was considered confidential. The knowledge level was measured by coding method and information was analyzed by SPSS.

Results: The average knowledge score of male cases below 12 point was considered very poor and that of women’s were even lower. The highest average level belonged to the couples whose educational level was higher than high school diploma. Most of the participants obtain their knowledge from unreliable sources (70.3% for women and 64.7% for men). The lowest knowledge scores belonged to the cases younger than 25 years of age. Only 15% of women and 9% of men spend no time of thinking about sexual matters at all. The fear of sexual relation was six times higher in women compared to men subjects and about 4% of cases considered sexual matters with aliens as sin.

Conclusion: In this study it has been proven that both women and all subjects under 25 years of age were more at risk of being deprived from enjoying a proper sexual relation. The knowledge of sexual issue for even educated woman was less than predicted. So by focusing on female education and informing them of the subject matter during high school and before marriage, the quality of life could be improved. Both sexes gain most of their knowledge from unreliable sources mainly because sharing such information with others seemed religious taboo. But surprisingly 86% of participants stated that there was an urgent need for gaining information from authorized health personnel. It was also made evident that providing couple with basic pieces of information about proper sexual relation, STD and more details about effective contraceptive methods were critical necessities.