BACKGROUND Women's empowerment is a process wherein females are afforded power over their own lives as well as their participation in the communities and larger societies to which they belong. An important aspect of such empowerment is the right to make decisions regarding fertility-an entitlement affected by the social health determinants that contribute to the social conditions under which humans live and work throughout their lives. As one such determinant, psychosocial factors play an essential role in the development of women's empowerment. Correspondingly, this study conducted a structural equation modeling of these determinants to examine the empowerment of Iranian women in reproductive decision making. METHODS This cross-sectional study involved 400 women who were referred to clinical centers of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using six questionnaires, namely, demographic, socioeconomic, and social support questionnaires, the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, a marital satisfaction questionnaire, and an empowerment survey. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17, and the structural equation modeling was carried out using EQS software version 6.1. RESULTS The Iranian women had an average level of empowerment with respect to reproductive decision making, and such empowerment was related to all the psychosocial factors examined (p = 0.001). The final model appropriately fit the data (comparative fit index = 0.92, root mean square error of approximation = 0.06). The psychosocial factors served as intermediate social determinants of the women's empowerment in reproductive decision making (β = 0.78, p = 0.001). This empowerment was indirectly affected by socioeconomic situation as a structural factor (β = 0.44, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Socioeconomic factors, through the mechanism of psychosocial determinants, may significantly affect women's empowerment in making decisions regarding reproductive health. Conditions associated with these factors should be improved to ensure that women claim and exercise their right to have mastery over their reproductive health.

中文翻译：

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健康心理社会决定因素的结构方程模型，以增强伊朗妇女在生殖决策方面的权能。


背景技术赋予妇女权力是一个过程，其中女性被赋予掌控自己生活以及参与她们所属社区和更大社会的权力。这种赋权的一个重要方面是就生育问题做出决定的权利——这项权利受到社会健康决定因素的影响，这些决定因素影响着人类一生生活和工作的社会条件。作为这样的决定因素之一，社会心理因素在妇女赋权的发展中发挥着至关重要的作用。相应地，本研究对这些决定因素进行了结构方程建模，以检验伊朗妇女在生殖决策中的赋权情况。方法 这项横断面研究涉及 400 名女性，她们被转诊至伊朗德黑兰 Shahid Beheshti 医科大学临床中心。使用六份问卷收集数据，即人口统计、社会经济和社会支持调查问卷、罗森伯格自尊量表、婚姻满意度调查问卷和赋权调查。使用SPSS软件17版对数据进行分析，并使用EQS软件6.1版进行结构方程建模。结果 伊朗妇女在生殖决策方面拥有平均水平的赋权，并且这种赋权与所检查的所有心理社会因素相关（p = 0.001）。最终模型适当地拟合了数据（比较拟合指数 = 0.92，近似均方根误差 = 0.06）。心理社会因素是妇女在生育决策中赋权的中间社会决定因素（β = 0.78，p = 0.001）。 这种赋权间接受到社会经济状况作为结构性因素的影响（β = 0.44，p = 0.001）。结论 社会经济因素通过社会心理决定因素机制，可能会显着影响妇女在生殖健康决策方面的权能。应改善与这些因素相关的条件，以确保妇女主张并行使掌握其生殖健康的权利。