Women’s Reproductive Empowerment: A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Females in Iran

Alishah, Arezo; Ganji, Jila; Tahamtan, R A Mohammadpour; Kiani, Zahra; Shahhosseini, Zohreh

doi:10.15296/ijwhr.2019.49

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Among these studies, a study conducted in Vietnam reported an optimal degree of empowerment in pregnant women [ 20 ]. The result of this study was consistent with some studies conducted in Iran [ 21 – 24 ].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 93%

The relationship between health literacy and empowerment in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Tavananezhad

Bolbanabad

Ghelichkhani

et al. 2022

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background Maternal health literacy is defined as the acquisition of required cognitive and social skills to enable women to access, understand, appraise, and use the information needed to maintain and enhance their health conditions. The World Health Organization (WHO) proposes health literacy and women empowerment as two pivotal components of maternal health improvement programs. In this regard, providing women with education and training in various fields is a key factor for their empowerment, prosperity, and well-being. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy and empowerment during pregnancy. Methods This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study examined 355 pregnant women, presented to different health centers in Sanandaj, Iran, in 2021. The cluster technique was used for sampling. For data collection, the socio-demographic and obstetrics characteristics, health literacy, and pregnant women's empowerment questionnaires were completed by interviewing research subjects. Data analysis was done using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multivariate linear regression in STATA13. Results The mean and standard deviation of health literacy and empowerment were 80.03 ± 12.79 (0–100) and 80.30 ± 8.14 (27–108), respectively. In terms of empowerment, the highest (19.50) and the lowest (12.92) scores were, respectively, observed in subdomains of “self-efficacy” and “the joy of an addition to the family.” With respect to health literacy, the highest (88.52) and lowest (73.78) mean scores were, respectively, observed in the subdomains of “understanding” and “access.” Pearson correlation test suggested that there was a significant direct correlation between the overall health literacy (r = 0.26; p < 0.001) and access (r = 0.18; p = 0.001), understanding (r = 0.11; p = 0.038), evaluation (r = 0.18; p = 0.001), and decision-making (r = 0.33; p < 0.001) with empowerment during pregnancy. Based on the multivariate linear regression model, empowerment during pregnancy improved with increasing health literacy (B = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.09 to 0.23; p < 0.001). Conclusion The results show a direct relationship between health literacy and its dimensions with empowerment during pregnancy. Therefore, it is recommended to improve the health literacy of all women of reproductive age.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 93%

The relationship between health literacy and empowerment in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Tavananezhad

Bolbanabad

Ghelichkhani

et al. 2022

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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“…Another Ethiopian study showed that only less than half (42.2%) of husbands were involved in the decision of FP with women who previously used MFPM, received professional FP counseling, and have a high level of women's awareness to FP enhanced husbands' engagement in the decision making process of FP ( Chekole et al., 2019 ). An Iranian study found that women's reproductive empowerment is influenced by employment status and husbands' educational level ( Alishah et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Midwives and women's perspectives on family planning in Jordan: human rights, gender equity, decision-making and power dynamics

Al-Sheyab

Nsour

Khader

et al. 2021

Heliyon

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Objectives This study explored midwives' and Jordanian and Syrian women's perceptions towards family planning (FP) counseling and the process of FP decision making mechanism to provide evidence for expanding the access and improving the quality and utilization of FP services in Jordan. Methods Explorative qualitative study that purposively recruited 24 women for 4 focus group discussions (FDGs) and 17 midwives for in-depth interviews from two governorates in Jordan. The transcribed narratives were subjected to deductive content analysis. Results Two themes were extracted from the narratives: The power dynamics in FP decision-making process and the barriers and motivators of FP decision making. The first theme was built on the perceived influence of gender equity and social pressures and gender-based violence on FP decision making. The second theme was constructed on the respondents' beliefs about reproductive health including FP as a human right and their perceptions of the obstacles and facilitators of FP Decision Making. Overall, husbands have an influential role, and perhaps the final say, in deciding whether to use FP services or not as well as the type of method to use. However, wives must initiate the family planning conversation with her husband and do so in a way that will be pleasing to the husband. Whether the husband agrees with the wife's idea to use family planning and gives her permission and funds for use, depends largely on her presentation of the idea, her husband's education level, and his personality. Conclusions This study revealed several relevant issues that play a role in Jordanian and Syrian women's decision to seek FP services. While cultural and social norms related to family planning and decision making continue to exert pressure on women, women have a deep interest in continuing to broaden their knowledge about family planning services. Engaging men and incorporating digital technology in family planning counselling has the potential to improve shared FP decision-making process among Jordanian couples and overcome some of the barriers.

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“…As for the effect of education on empowerment, studies have shown that women's empowerment is significantly related to the husbands' education levels (Alishah et al, 2019;Mainuddin, Begum, Rawal, Islam, & Islam, 2015;Samari, 2019), whereas (Alishah et al, 2019;Nazier & Ramadan, 2018) did not show a significant correlation between women's empowerment and their education levels, but it showed significance in (Samari, 2019).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women's empowerment has enormous effects on the health and quality of life of the family and then the society accordingly (Kiani, Simbar, Dolatian, & Zayeri, 2018). Women's empowerment is the basis for population and development programs in Egypt (Ragab et al, 2016) and it is also one of the Millennium Development Goals (Alishah, Ganji, Mohammadpour, Kiani, & Shahhosseini, 2019). Zaky, Armanious, & Hussein (2019) pointed out that women's empowerment should be considered as an important indicator for using prenatal health care services in Egypt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowerment as a Mediator between Education and Reproductive Health Care in Egypt: The Impact of Poverty and Residence

Aly¹

2021

JSS

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Introduction: Since women's access to the required reproductive health care reduces maternal and foetal deaths and postpartum complications for both, this study examined the role of poverty and residence on the model where empowerment played a mediating role between education and women's access to reproductive health care. Methods: The study used the Multiple-Group Path Analysis based on the 2014 Egypt's Demographic Health Survey. Results: Women's Empowerment acts as a partial mediator between their education and receiving reproductive health care, while it acts as a full mediator between the husband's education and the woman's reception of that care. There are no significant differences among the categories of the residence and wealth models with regard to both the effect of education, of the woman and her husband, on empowerment and the effect of the latter on receiving health care. There is a significant difference among the categories of the wealth model regarding the effect of women's education on receiving health care, whereas this difference does not exist among the residence model categories. Conclusion: The effect of both women's education and empowerment on receiving reproductive health care is higher among the poor and the rural dwellers, while the effect of the husbands' education on empowerment is weak among these categories. Therefore, a new societal culture must be created through educational curricula, female illiteracy and dropping out of education stages must be reduced, and poverty must be mitigated through an integrated system targeted for small projects and supported by all facilities.

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Women’s Reproductive Empowerment: A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Females in Iran

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

The relationship between health literacy and empowerment in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

The relationship between health literacy and empowerment in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study

Midwives and women's perspectives on family planning in Jordan: human rights, gender equity, decision-making and power dynamics

Empowerment as a Mediator between Education and Reproductive Health Care in Egypt: The Impact of Poverty and Residence

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