Background: Maternal health literacy (MHL) and health information-seeking behavior (HISB) could impact maternal health and pregnancy outcomes. Purpose and Research Design: This cross-sectional study investigated MHL, HISBs, and pregnancy outcomes in Iranian pregnant women. This study was also aimed to determine the predictors of MHL and pregnancy outcomes. Study smple and Data Collection: In this study, 337 randomly selected postpartum women completed three questionnaires, including a demographics form, an obstetrics history checklist, and the Maternal Health Literacy and Pregnancy Outcome Questionnaire (MHLAPQ). Results: The mean MHL and pregnancy outcome scores were 60.80 ± 9.91 and 49.88 ± 5.69, respectively. Of the participants, 56% adopted both formal and informal HISB. Education and internet HISB was associated with the odds of being in the group with higher MHL. Participants with high MHL had more than twice higher odds for better pregnancy outcomes (OR = 2.25,  p < 0.004). Conclusions: Continued efforts are required to make health information sources more accessible to pregnant women to improve their health literacy and pregnancy outcomes.

Background & objectives: Violence against women is a serious threat to health and human rights. It seem that the level of violence in infertile women to be more than other women. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between infertility and sexual violence in infertile women referred to Alzahra hospital in Rasht. Methods: The analytical-cross sectional study was conducted in 400 women (200 infertile women and 200 fertile women) who were referred to Al-Zahra hospital in Rasht, Iran. Samples were selected through convenience sampling from patient referring to clinics of infertility and women. Data were collected by sexual violence questionnaire retrieved from WHO Domestic violence questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, chi-square test and logistic regression in SPSS software version 18. Results: Sexual violence was 60% in the case group and 35.5% in the control group, which was significantly higher in the infertile group (p<0.0001). In the logistic model, there was a significant relationship between sexual violence with the duration of marriage, female education, husband's job and infertility (p<0.001). Also there was a significant relationship between husband addiction and sexual violence at the level of p<0.05. Conclusion: The study found that infertile women are suffered from sexual violence more significantly. Given that, factors such as the level of women education and occupation and the addiction of spouse can also be a predisposing factor for violence, it is necessary to include plans for empowering women in field of violence, preventing addiction and raising awareness about sexual violence in the community.

Introduction: Nowadays, about 50-65% of births in Iran occur by Cesarean Section (CS). Informed consent (IC) is one of the most important ethical, legal and professional requirements of a surgical procedure. Objectives: This study aims to assess the quality of obtaining surgical IC from women underwent CS in public hospitals of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this analytical study with cross-sectional design, 300 postpartum women who had CS referred to two public hospitals in Rasht, Iran were participated through stratified random sampling method in 2016. Data were collected using a two-part researcher-made questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman’s correlation test. Results: The mean age of participants was 29.84 ± 5.9 years. The majority of them (45.3%) had education lower than high school. The overall mean score for the quality of obtained IC was 62.23±23.38, out of 150 points. Regarding its dimensions, quality of acquiring IC form (20.21±7.12, out of 40 points), provision of CS-related information (15.67±11.10, out of 45 points), voluntariness (7.53±6.95, out of 25), and the physician–patient relationship (18.81±8.87, out of 40 points) were perceived poor. Women’s educational level had a significant correlation with the IC quality dimensions of voluntariness (P=0.0001) and physician–patient relationship (P=0.043). The number of deliveries (P=0.008), live births (P=0.031), and stillbirth (P=0.0001) had a significant correlation with acquiring the IC form. The voluntariness was significantly associated with the number of live births (P=0.023) and stillbirth (P=0.001). The physician-patient relationship dimension was significantly associated with the number of pregnancies (P=0.023) and abortions (P=0.0001). The overall quality of obtained IC was significantly correlated with the women’ age (r= 0.162, P= 0.005). Conclusion: Most of women in Iran are not informed enough about the CS and its consequences. Health care providers should pay more attention to the women’s characteristics when obtaining IC for the CS. We recommend essential changes in the process of obtaining surgical IC for the CS in public hospitals of Iran. Obtaining IC during pregnancy may reduce unnecessary CSs.