Examining the relationship between sexual health literacy and sexual myths of students at the faculty of health sciences with structural equation modeling
摘要
This study aimed to examine the relationship between sexual health literacy and sexual myths among health sciences students using structural equation modeling.
MethodsDesigned as cross-sectional research, data were collected from students in the midwifery and nursing departments of a university in Southeastern Anatolia. The Personal Information Form, Sexual Health Literacy Scale (SHLS), and Sexual Myths Scale (SMS) were used. Ethical approval was obtained (Decision number: 29/1 1/2023–477). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS 25 and JAMOVI 2.3.28.
ResultsResults showed that 58.6% of participants were aged 18–21, 79.4% were female, 38.7% had a family member to talk to about sexuality, and 46.8% used the internet as a source of sexual information. The mean SHLS score was 52.07 ± 8.11, while the mean SMS score was 68.04 ± 15.59. A negative, weak, and statistically significant correlation was found between SHLS and SMS (r = −0.155; p = 0.001). The SEM analysis indicated that sexual myths were significantly associated with sexual health literacy, accounting for approximately 2.4% of the variance in SHLS scores within the tested model.
ConclusionsThe mean SHLS score was slightly above the midpoint of the possible scale range, suggesting a moderate level of sexual health literacy among the participants. According to the structural equation model, sexual health literacy (dependent variable) and sexual myths (independent variable) explained a small proportion of the variance. Higher sexual health literacy scores were associated with lower levels of belief in sexual myths.