The Relation of Social Determinants of Health and Sexual Function among Women at Health Centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2016

The key role of social determinants of health also applies to sexual function as a part of sexual health. Accordingly, this study aimed to determine the relation between social determinants of health and sexual function among women who were referred to health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. This descriptive analytic study was conducted with participation of 260 women who were referred to health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Health centers were selected by random method and convenience sampling was conducted for selecting participants. Data were collected via demographic questionnaire, socio-economic questionnaire, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Female Sexual Function Index. Data were analyzed using SPSS software-version 23, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Independent T-Test, Pearson’s correlation and Linear Regression with Enter and Step-Wise method. Significance level was considered 0.05 in all tests. The mean (SD) total score of sexual function was 25.7 (5.8). Increased level of couples' education, finance Index with the mean (SD) of 85.3 (13.3), and social support with the mean (SD) of 60.1 (13.5) were associated with improved sexual function (p<0.05). Couple’s occupation didn’t have significant relationship with sexual function of women (p>0.05). The analysis of stepwise regression showed that social support, husband's education and Finance Index could directly predict the sexual function of women. The study showed that higher levels of social support, husband's education and Finance Index were associated with better female sexual function scores.