Barriers to sexual health-seeking behaviors for Chinese women.

Abstract

Cognitive barriers to Chinese women's sexual health-seeking behaviours remained unclear. Therefore, we conducted this study to investigate the characteristics of the sexual health beliefs of Chinese women to clarify why they were reluctant to seek help for sexual issues. An online survey was undertaken from April to July 2020. A total of 3443 valid responses were gleaned (the effective rate was 82.6%), the participants of which were mainly Chinese urban women of childbearing age. Up to 66.0% (n=2271, the standardized rate was 66.8%~73.4%) felt ashamed of sexual health-related disorders. Most women (49.4%, n=1700) were strongly motivated to seek help for sexual issues but also had a great psychological impediment. Women with low motivation and a great psychological impediment were rare (6.4%, n= 219). The shame of sexual health-related disorders was the main barrier to sexual health-seeking behaviours for Chinese women, which should be given enough attention in related health services and sexual education.