Determining the Most Common Reproductive Health Needs of Rural Women of Reproductive Age, Iran, 2017

Objectives: The first step in designing a plan is need recognition. Given the fact that rural women are among the most deprived groups in terms of healthcare services, this study aimed to determine the most common reproductive health needs of rural women of reproductive age, which can provide the foundation for designing proper programs with regard to budget constraints. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on rural women of reproductive age referred to rural healthcare centers of Neyshabur, Iran, during 2016-2017. In total, 405 subjects were selected through randomized sampling. The data collection tool was standardized questionnaire evaluating sexual and reproductive health needs. This instrument consists of seven sections, including background information, safe motherhood, family planning, sexual behaviors, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and physical and sexual violence. The answer to each question was categorized into 2 groups of favorable (Score 1 was given to it) and unfavorable (Score 2 was given to it), so low scores were indicative of favorable condition, whereas high scores reflected unfavorable status. Data analysis was performed using descriptive tests in SPSS version 17.0. Results: In this study, about half of the women were within the age range of 31-40 years, and 44.2% of them were illiterate or had low literacy levels. In addition, 84% of the subjects were housewives. Safe pregnancy domain had the most proper status (14.12±10.55), whereas HIV/AIDS domain was the least favorable condition (47.65±21.63). Conclusions: We recommend designing focused programs to improve the health of rural women in the domains of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which are the most prioritized areas of reproductive health.