title: Assessing Iranian adolescent girls' needs for sexual and reproductive health information.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the views and experiences of adolescent girls and key adults regarding the necessity of providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services for adolescent girls in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a qualitative study; the data were coded and categorized in content analysis by MAXQDA10 and were gathered through focus groups with adolescent girls and their mothers and semi-structured interviews with school counselors, sociologists, health providers, state and nongovernmental directors of health programs, clergy, and health policy makers in the Iranian cities of Mashhad, Tehran, Shahroud, and Qom.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were six main reasons for the need to provide SRH services for adolescent girls: a lack of adequate knowledge about SRH, easy access to inaccurate information sources, cultural and social changes, increasing risky sexual behaviors among adolescents, religion's emphasis on sex training of children and adolescents, and the existence of cultural taboos.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most participants confirmed the necessity of providing SRH services for adolescent girls, so instead of talking about provision or non-provision of these services, it is important for policy makers to plan and provide SRH services that can be consistent with cultural and religious values for adolescent girls.
authors.affiliation: Research Center Of Psychiatry, Golestan University Of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Abbas
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mosavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Health, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran. Electronic address: raheleh621@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Babazadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Khadijeh Mirzaii
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Najmabadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medicine Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shariati
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002977:Clergy / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007492:Iran; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020380:Needs Assessment; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012071:Religion and Sex; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000193:education*; D012736:Sex Education; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent girls; Information; Iran; Qualitative study; Sexual and reproductive health