Comparative survey of youth's sexual and reproductive health educational needs in two stages before and after marriage, Tehran 2011

Marriage is a phenomenon that changes the nature of sexual and reproductive health needs. Ignorance of natural differences of sexual and reproductive health needs in different situations reduces the effectiveness of training programs in this area. This research aimed to compare of sexual and reproductive health educational needs in two stages, before and after marriage in youth. In a cohort study in 2011, by random stratified sampling in males and females, 450 engaged youth that participated in pre-marital counseling in Tehran, were selected. The level of sexual and reproductive health educational needs was measured by a self designed questionnaire which was a 5-point Likert-scale in two stages before and after marriage. Data were analyzed by SPSS15. Descriptive Statistics, t-test and paired t-test were used. Means of educational need score before and after marriage were 3.56±0.95 and 3.72±0.82. After marriage, the level of sexual and reproductive health educational needs had increased but this wasn’t significant (p-value= 0.096). “Healthy sexual relationships" in before marriage and “best physical condition, mental and social sex for pregnancy" in after marriage were the most important educational topics. Findings suggest designing and implementation of sexual and reproductive health educational content based on needs of young people with regard to cultural and social situations of them is a must.