Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 May-Jun;98(3):183-6.
doi: 10.1007/BF03403709.

Providing for the sexual health needs of Canadian immigrants: the experience of immigrants from Iran

Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale  1 , Khosro Refaie Shirpak, Maryam Chinichian
Affiliations

Providing for the sexual health needs of Canadian immigrants: the experience of immigrants from Iran

Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale et al. Can J Public Health. 2007 May-Jun.

Abstract
in English, French

Background: Sexual health is increasingly understood as an integral part of health. In Canada, education for sexual health is delivered predominantly in middle and secondary school. What of adults who immigrate to Canada from countries where sex education is not delivered to youth? This paper explores the needs and experiences of one such group of Canadian immigrants: those from Iran.

Method: Ten married male and 10 married female immigrants from Iran living in a mid-sized Canadian city were recruited using snowball sampling and participated in qualitative interviews. The sample varied in age, education level, duration of marriage, and stay in Canada.

Results: Participants addressed three themes: experiences accessing information and health services, necessary content of information, and preferred ways of providing sexual health information and services. Key barriers to accessing and using sexual health services, experienced by all interviewees, regardless of the length of time they were in Canada, included language, cultural misunderstandings, embarrassment, long waits, and limited time that physicians spent with patients. Examples were provided of misunderstandings and inappropriate or even offensive questions or suggestions made by health practitioners who were unfamiliar with patients' cultural norms related to sexuality. Participants believed their needs and questions were different from their Canadian counterparts and wanted a confidential, linguistically and culturally friendly source of information such as a website in the Farsi language.

Conclusions: More attention needs to be paid to developing public health and medical services related to sexual health that take account of the cultural diversities represented in the Canadian population.

Contexte: On considère de plus en plus la santé sexuelle comme faisant partie intégrante de la santé. Au Canada, l’éducation à la santé sexuelle se donne principalement au premier et au deuxième cycles de l’école secondaire. Qu’en est-il des adultes qui immigrent au Canada en provenance de pays où les jeunes ne reçoivent aucune éducation sexuelle? Nous analysons ici les besoins et l’expérience d’un tel groupe d’immigrants au Canada: les Iraniens.

Méthode: À l’aide d’un sondage cumulatif, nous avons recruté 10 hommes mariés et 10 femmes mariées émigrés d’Iran vivant dans une ville canadienne de taille moyenne et nous les avons fait participer à des entretiens en profondeur. L’âge, le niveau d’instruction, la durée du mariage et la durée du séjour au Canada variaient au sein de l’échantillon.

Résultats: Les participants ont discuté de trois thèmes: leur expérience de l’accès à l’information et aux services de santé, la pertinence de l’information reçue, et leurs préférences quant au mode de prestation de l’information et des services de santé sexuelle. Les principaux obstacles à l’accès et à l’utilisation des services de santé sexuelle, vécus par toutes les personnes interrogées quelle que soit la durée de leur séjour au Canada, étaient la langue, les malentendus culturels, l’embarras, les longues attentes et le temps limité que les médecins consacrent à leurs patients. On nous a donné des exemples de malentendus et de questions ou de suggestions incongrues, ou même offensantes, formulées par des professionnels de la santé qui ignoraient les normes culturelles de ces patients en matière de sexualité. Les participants étaient convaincus d’avoir des besoins et des questions différents de ceux de leurs concitoyens et auraient voulu avoir une source d’information confidentielle adaptée à leurs besoins linguistiques et culturels, par exemple un site Web en persan.

Conclusion: Il faudrait s’efforcer d’élaborer des services médicaux et de santé publique en santé sexuelle qui tiennent compte de la diversité culturelle de la population canadienne.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Pan American Health Organization, Promotion of Sexual Health: Recommendations for Action. Proceedings of regional consultation convened by PAHO/WHO in collaboration with the World Association for Sexology in Antigua, Guatemala, May 19–22, 2000.
    1. Weaver AD, Byers ES, Sears HA, Cohen JN, Randall HES. Sexual health education at school and at home: Attitudes and experiences of New Brunswick parents. Can J Human Sexuality. 2002;11(1):19–31.
    1. Boyce W, Doherty M, Fortin C, MacKinnon D. Canadian Youth, Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Study: Factors Influencing Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours. Toronto, ON: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada; 2003.
    1. Barrett M. Sexuality education in Canadian schools: An overview in 1994. Can J Human Sexuality. 1994;3:199–208.
    1. Health Canada. Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. Ottawa, ON: Population and Public Health Branch, Health Canada; 2003.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources