Introduction

Despite the fact that sexual and reproductive health has been considered key aspects of the individual’s wellbeing and social welfare, there are no adequate policies and programs to deal with sexual health, particularly among young people.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted from February to December 2015. Twenty-five semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with health policymakers in Iran using a purposive sampling method. The qualitative data were analyzed using conventional content analysis with an inductive interpretive approach.

Results

The perceived barriers for sexual health programs generated by health-policymakers reside in three main domains: individual, structural, and socio-cultural. Under the domain of individual, the category of policymakers’ personal barriers comprises: “lack of knowledge,” “misperceptions,” and “stigma,” i.e., threat to their managerial positions. Under the domain of structural barriers, the category of “challenges in policy making processes” comprises: “the abstinence challenge/paradox of sexual health as a strategic goal,” “financial challenges,” “uncoordinated and unstable management of the program,” “challenges for data collection and planning,” and “lack of priority for sexual health.” Finally, under the domain of socio-cultural, the category of “conservative socio-cultural context, sexuality as a social taboo in Iranian society” emerged as a barrier for sexual health programs in Iran.

Conclusions

To introduce sexual health programs in a conservative society, health-policymakers must begin by advocating for sexual health, in order to create positive attitudes toward sexual heath as a component of human wellbeing, and then address social and cultural sensitivities by promoting greater dialogue.

Social and Public Policy Implications

Sexual health and sexual health needs are important aspects of life and warrant further research in Iran. Policy makers of the health system need to correct information of sexual health needs of people to health planning, and this clears barriers of sexual health planning in the health system of Iran.

中文翻译：

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从伊朗卫生政策制定者的角度看实施性健康计划的障碍：定性研究

介绍

尽管性健康和生殖健康已被视为个人福祉和社会福利的关键方面，但尚无适当的政策和方案来应对性健康，特别是在年轻人中。

方法

2015年2月至2015年12月进行了定性研究。采用有针对性的抽样方法，与伊朗的卫生政策制定者进行了25次半结构化的深入访谈。使用常规内容分析和归纳解释方法分析定性数据。

结果

卫生政策制定者产生的性健康计划障碍被认为存在三个主要领域：个人，结构和社会文化。在个人的范畴内，决策者的个人障碍包括：“知识不足”，“误解”和“污名化”，即威胁其管理职位。在结构性障碍的范围内，“决策过程中的挑战”类别包括：“禁欲挑战/性健康悖论作为战略目标”，“财务挑战”，“计划的不协调和不稳定的管理”，“数据收集和计划方面的挑战”和“缺乏性健康优先重点”。最后，在社会文化领域下，“保守的社会文化背景”类别

结论

为了在保守的社会中引入性健康计划，健康政策制定者必须首先倡导性健康，以便对作为人类福祉组成部分的性健康产生积极态度，然后通过促进更大的对话来应对社会和文化敏感性。

社会和公共政策含义

性健康和性健康需求是生活的重要方面，需要在伊朗进行进一步研究。卫生系统的决策者需要纠正人们对性健康需求的信息以进行卫生计划，这消除了伊朗卫生系统中性健康计划的障碍。