Middle-Aged Iranian Women's Accounts of Their Sexual Health Care Practices: A Conventional Content Analysis.

Abstract

Little research has been done to examine sexual health care among middle-aged women, particularly in developing countries that are socioculturally conservative, such as Iran. In 2015, as part of a descriptive qualitative study, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 17 women aged 40-65 residing in Golestan Province, Iran. Graneheim and Lundman's approach to conventional content analysis was used to interpret the sexual health care narratives of the women. Sexual health care for middle-aged Iranian women often took the form of self-care to preserve their privacy and confidentiality, and in general, any information on sexual health was appreciated. Data analysis identified three main categories of strategies for sexual self-care: sexual risk protection, prevention of sexual problems and undesirability, and sexual information seeking. Also, sexual self-care emerged as the central theme. To meet the needs of middle-aged Iranian women, health care providers should become familiar with such women's sexual health care and self-care practices. Socioculturally sensitive policies and interventions should be developed to improve the sexual and reproductive health care conditions of middle-aged women.