Exploration of Barriers and Facilitators of Sexual Health Information-Seeking Behaviors Among Teenage Girls in Rasht

Abstract

Background: Teenage girls who are passing through sensitive puberty time are among the vulnerable ones whose sexual health information needs have not received sufficient attention. The present article aimed to explore barriers and facilitators of sexual health information-seeking behaviors (SHISB) among teenage girls in Rasht in 2022. Methods: The present study was performed using a qualitative method based on conventional content analysis. The participants were selected by the maximum variation sampling method and included 15 teenage girls in the age range of 15-21 years old and 5 key adults, including mothers, teachers, and sexual health specialists. Data were collected by the semi-structured interview technique and then analyzed using Landman and Granheim’s approach. Results: According to the results of the present study, 7 main categories and 25 subcategories were extracted, including barriers, facilitators, motivations, and resources for seeking sexual health information. The main categories were individual barriers, family inappropriate performance, cyber threats, social inhibitors, facilitating elements of information seeking, information seeking motivation, and channels of sexual health literacy. Conclusion: In addition to clarifying the barriers and facilitators of seeking sexual health information among teenage girls, the findings also point to the necessity of providing educational situations to learn sexual health topics. Therefore, the present study suggests the necessity of family institution, health, and education cooperation, along with formulating community-oriented programs to support teenage girls’ information needs, changing the family and society’s point of view considering sexual health.