title: Reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and practices of Iranian college students.
abstract: To study reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and practices of youth in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1111 university students completed a questionnaire with 43 closed questions. The overall mean knowledge score was 54%. Knowledge of males and females, and of married and single students, was similar. Of 664 students answering questions about reproductive health behaviour, 54 (8%) reported having sexual intercourse before marriage; 16% of males and 0.6% of females; 48% of them had used condoms. The majority of students believed that the risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections was moderate but that youth had a low ability to practise healthy behaviour. The majority believed in the benefits of reproductive health knowledge for youth but felt that services were inadequate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Shaheed Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. msimbar@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simbar
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Tehrani
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hashemi
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted / Q000208:ethnology; D018456:Reproductive Medicine / Q000193:education*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D021841:Safe Sex / Q000208:ethnology; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities