Factors Associated with Sexual and Reproductive Health Literacy: A Scoping Review

Sexual and reproductive health literacy leads to personal capabilities in accessing, understanding, evaluating and applying sexual health information. Several factors were associated with sexual and reproductive health literacy. Therefore, the present study was conducted with a review of the factors related to sexual and reproductive health literacy.              

At first, a general review was done by Google Scholar search engine. Then, a systematic search was conducted using the keywords sexual health literacy and reproductive health literacy in Magiran, SID, Irandoc, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, library of Cochrane from 2010 to 2022. Data was extracted from all the studies that met the eligibility criteria based on the study’s objectives.

Finally, a complete overview of 10 articles has been used to write this article. The findings of this review study led to the classification of data in three general categories including: demographic factors (gender, age, marriage, education, race, place of residence, place of study, field of study), socio-cultural factors (Religion, economic status, knowledge on sexual reproductive health, participation in sexual reproductive classes, sexual education and experience, and source of information), and medical-fertility factors (contraceptive methods, functional literacy on condoms, single and recurrent pregnancies).                                                                                                     

It is suggested to pay more attention to these factors in order to improve sexual health and reproductive literacy. It is hoped that the present study will serve as a perspective for appropriate interventions and a precursor for a systematic review.