Original Research Article
Year: 2017 | Month: November | Volume: 7 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 210-221
Symptoms and Practices of Reproductive-Age Women Living in a City in the Northeastern Turkey Concerning Reproductive Health Morbidities
Özlem AŞCI1, Fulya GÖKDEMİR2
1Assistant Professor, Artvin Çoruh University Health Sciences Faculty, Turkey.
2Instructor, Artvin Çoruh University Health Sciences Faculty, Turkey.
Corresponding Author: Özlem AŞCI
ABSTRACT
Background: Women's health and quality of life are severely affected by reproductive morbidities such as reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Women’s statuses of performing the practices to maintain their reproductive health significantly affected early diagnosis and treatment success of the reproductive health problems.
Methods: The aim of this study was to determine the self-reported symptoms and practices of reproductive-age women concerning reproductive morbidities. This descriptive study was conducted in a healthcare institution in Artvin province. The sample involved 549 women who were reached by convenience sampling method and reported that they were not pregnant or did not go through the menopause. The data were collected using the questionnaire prepared by the researchers.
Results: 52.3% of the women were single and 47.7% were married. 92.3% of the women were complaining at least one symptom associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), 73% with RTIs, 28% with dyspareunia, 13.8% with urinary incontinence (UI), 9.3% with infertility and 6.9% with POP. In any reproductive morbidity, the rate of women seeking medical help was 70.1%, the rate of going regular gynecology was 11.1%, the rate of having Pap test was 24.7%, the rate of self-breast examination was 27.3%, and the rate of doing Kegel exercise was 13.3%. The reported symptoms and practices showed some differences in terms of marital status (p <0.05).
Conclusions: Women’s rate of complaining about the symptoms related to reproductive morbidities was high. About three out of every ten women did not receive medical aid in their reproductive morbidities. Although many women reported that they received medical aid, few women reported that they performed the practices for protecting their reproductive health. The tendency of both seeking medical aid and performing the practices for protecting the reproductive health was lower in single women than the married ones.
Key words: Woman's Health, Reproductive Health, Sexual Health, Morbidity, Gynecologic Diseases Symptoms, Health Practice.