Cent Eur J Nurs Midw 2019, 10(2):1052-1058 | DOI: 10.15452/CEJNM.2019.10.0013

"Demand what you prefer": the role of sexual assertiveness among HIV-infected women

Farzaneh Vakili1, Abbas Alipour2, Effat Merghati Khoei3, Mehrnaz Rasoolinejad1,*
1 Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Thalassemia Research Center, Medical Faculty, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
3 The Iranian National Center for Addiction Studies (INCAS), Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate sexual assertiveness among HIV-infected women, and to address the relationship between sexual assertiveness, sociodemographic characteristics, sexual and fertility profile, and HIV-related variables in this population.

Design: A cross sectional study.

Methods: The research was conducted with a sample of 93 eligible HIV-infected women referred to Imam Khomeini hospital between September 2016 and January 2018. The Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness was used to assess sexual assertiveness.

Results: Mean and standard deviation of sexual assertiveness was 51.33 (20.16). We found a significant relationship between age (p = 0.04), education (p = 0.03), pregnancy experience (p = 0.003), age at the time of first sexual contact (p = 0.005), and disclosure of HIV sero-status to sexual partners (p = 0.05) and sexual assertiveness. Binary logistic regression results showed that age (p = 0.04), having live children (p = 0.003), and disclosure of HIV sero-status to sexual partners (p = 0.04) could significantly predict sexual assertiveness score.

Conclusion: Our findings showed that level of sexual assertiveness in HIV sero-positive women deserves more attention. In addition, consideration should be given to sexual health related issues and sexual assertiveness skills during routine HIV care appointments.

Keywords: assertiveness, HIV, safe sex, sexual health, women

Received: December 7, 2018; Accepted: June 3, 2019; Published: September 30, 2019  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Vakili F, Alipour A, Khoei EM, Rasoolinejad M. "Demand what you prefer": the role of sexual assertiveness among HIV-infected women. Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery. 2019;10(2):1052-1058. doi: 10.15452/CEJNM.2019.10.0013.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Ahmadabadi Z, Panaghi L, Madanipour A, Sedaghat A, Tira M, Kamrava S, Maleki G. Cultural scripts, reasons for having sex, and regret: a study of Iranian male and female university students. Sexuality & Culture. 2015;19(3):561-573. Go to original source...
    2. Amin A. Addressing gender inequalities to improve the sexual and reproductive health and well-being of women living with HIV. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2015;18(Suppl 5):20302. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Arbil L, Kolivand M, Golboni F, MerghatiKhoei E, Rezaei M. On the effect of cognitive behavioural counseling on sexual satisfaction of mothers with autistic children: a randomized clinical trial. World Family Medicine Journal. 2017;15(7):28- 34.
    4. Azmoude E, Firoozi M, Sadeghi Sahebzad E, Asgharipour N. Relationship between gender roles and sexual assertiveness in married women. International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery. 2016;4(4):363-373.
    5. Campbell AN, Brooks AJ, Pavlicova M, Hu MC, HatchMaillette MA, Calsyn DA, Tross S. Barriers to condom use: results for men and women enrolled in hiv risk reduction trials in outpatient drug treatment. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services. 2016;15(2):130-146. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Chahil-Graf R, Madani N. Women, culture and the HIV epidemic in MENA. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2014;17:19074. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Colombini M, James C, Ndwiga C, Integra Team, Mayhew SH. The risks of partner violence following hiv status disclosure, and health service responses: narratives of women attending reproductive health services in Kenya. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2016;19(1):20766. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Cooper B, Crockett C. Gender-based violence and HIV across the life course: adopting a sexual rights framework to include older women. Reproductive Health Matters. 2015;23(46):56- 61. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. DeJong J, Battistin F. Women and HIV: the urgent need for more research and policy attention in the Middle East and North Africa region. Journal of the International AIDS Society. 2015;18:20084. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Ghorat F, Esfehani RJ, Sharifzadeh M, Tabarraei Y, Aghahosseini SS. Long term effect of vaginal delivery and cesarean section on female sexual function in primipara mothers. Electronic Physician. 2017;9(3):3991-3996. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Gökengin D, Doroudi F, Tohme J, Collins B, Madani N. HIV/AIDS: trends in the Middle East and North Africa region. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2016;44:66-73. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Günthard HF, Saag MS, Benson CA, del Rio C, Eron JJ, Gallant JE, Hoy JF, Mugavero MJ, Sax PE, Thompson MA, Gandhi RT, Landovitz RJ, Smith DM, Jacobsen DM, Volberding PA. Antiretroviral Drugs for treatment and prevention of HIV infection in adults: 2016 recommendations of the International Antiviral Society-USA Panel. Jama. 2016;316(2):191-210. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Hahn CK, Morris JM, Jacobs GA. Predictors of bystander behaviors and sexual assertiveness among college women attending a sexual assault prevention program. Journal of Community Psychology. 2017;45:672-677. Go to original source...
    14. Hurlbert DF. The role of assertiveness in female sexuality: a comparative study between sexually assertive and sexually non-assertive women. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy. 1991;17(3):183-190. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Javier SJ, Abrams JA, Moore MP, Belgrave FZ. Condom use efficacy and sexual communication skills among African American college women. Health Promotion Practice. 2018;19(2):287-294. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Leavitt CE, McDaniel BT, Maas MK, Feinberg ME. Parenting stress and sexual satisfaction among first-time parents: a dyadic approach. Sex roles. 2017;76(5-6):346-355. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Lin F, Farnham PG, Shrestha RK, Mermin J, Sansom SL. Cost effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2016;50(6):699- 708. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    18. Loshek E, Terrell HK. The Development of the Sexual Assertiveness Questionnaire (SAQ): a comprehensive measure of sexual assertiveness for women. The Journal of Sex Research. 2015;52(9):1017-1027. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. McDonald E, Woolhouse H, Brown SJ. Consultation about sexual health issues in the year after childbirth: a cohort study. Birth. 2015;42(4):354-361. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    20. Merghati-Khoei ES, Rezaei Z, Shojaei-Zadeh D, Azadi NA, Rimaz S, Bayat A, Moayedi-Nia S, Omati S, Salimi F, Korte J, Killeen T, Mohraz M. Sexual risk behaviors and condom use barriers in Iranian men with substance use disorders. Addiction & Health. 2017;9(1):40-47. Go to PubMed...
    21. Mozafari M, Mayer KH. Social change and HIV in Iran: reaching hidden populations. The Lancet HIV. 2017;4(7):e282-e283. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Ramezani MA, Ahmadi K, Ghaemmaghami A, Zamani S, Saadat SH, Rahiminejad SP. Evaluation of quality of life therapy effectiveness in contrast to psycho-sexual education on sexual self-concept of Iranian women. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal. 2018;20(S1):e22424. Go to original source...
    23. Robinson JL, Narasimhan M, Amin A, Morse S, Beres LK, Yeh PT, Kennedy CE. Interventions to address unequal gender and power relations and improve self-efficacy and empowerment for sexual and reproductive health decisionmaking for women living with HIV: a systematic review. PloS One. 2017;12(8):e0180699. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    24. Santos-Iglesias P, Sierra JC. Hurlbert Index of sexual assertiveness: a study of psychometric properties in a Spanish sample. Psychological Reports. 2010;107(1):39-57. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    25. Santos-Iglesias P, Sierra JC, Vallejo-Medina P. Predictors of sexual assertiveness: the role of sexual desire, arousal, attitudes, and partner abuse. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2013;42(6):1043-1052. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    26. Sayyadi F, Golmakani N, Ebrahimi M, Saki A. The relationship between sexual assertiveness and positive feelings towards spouse in married women. Journal of Midwifery and Reproductive Health. 2018;6(3):1305-1310.
    27. Smith DK, Herbst JH, Zhang X, Rose CE. Condom effectiveness for HIV prevention by consistency of use among men who have sex with men in the United States. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2015;68(3):337- 344. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    28. Speed BC, Goldstein BL, Goldfried MR. Assertiveness training: a forgotten evidence-based treatment. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 2018;25:1-20. Go to original source...
    29. Vallejo-Medina P, Sierra JC. Adaptation and validation of the Sexual Assertiveness Scale (SAS) in a sample of male drug users. The Spanish Journal of Psychology. 2015;18:E21. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    30. Wegner R, Lewis MA, Davis KC, Neilson EC, Norris J. Tactics young women use to resist condom use when a partner wants to use a condom. The Journal of Sex Research. 2018;55(7):817-823. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content