Reproductive health knowledge & misperceptions among elite young people in Tehran: A mix method study

This paper aims to describe reproductive health knowledge, misperceptions and their determinants among female college students in Tehran.
The data of this paper has been derived from a mix method study conducted on knowledge, attitude and conduct of female college students on sexual and reproductive health in Tehran in 2005-6. The survey was conducted among 1743 female college students recruited from four multidisciplinary universities in Tehran using two stage random cluster sampling. Thirty in-depth interviews enriched the survey data.

The majority of respondents (92%) were well informed about the possibility of a healthy appearance of HIV infected people. More than two- thirds of respondents had correct knowledge about condom efficacy and the contraceptive efficacy of oral pills (OCP). However, 28% of survey respondents were unaware of the fact that a woman can get pregnant at first intercourse and about 24% were unaware that OCP offers effective protection against pregnancy. Unmarried sexually experienced respondents reported better information about most aspects of reproductive health than the sexually inexperienced, particularly with regard to the effectiveness of condoms in prevention of HIV infection (83% vs. 61%). Despite good knowledge regarding condom and mode of transmission of HIV and STIs, the qualitative study showed extensive misperceptions regarding the risks of transmission of STIs and HIV through non-vaginal penetrative sex. Hence condom use was only associated with vaginal sex.
HIV and STIs prevention programs in the country need to consider these common misperceptions to be more effective.

No relevant conflicts of interest declared.