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Background and purpose: Âlthough much has been written about the health status of adolescents, little qualitative research has been published on educational health needs of female adolescents. The purpose of this study was to describe the educational health needs of female adolescents.
Materials and methods: Ïn this qualitative study, 67 female adolescents between 12-18 years of age and 11 key informants participated expressed their experiences on educational health needs of female adolescents, using semi structured interviews. Participants were recruited based on purposeful sampling and with maximum variety from rural and urban area of Sari city. Âll tape-recorded data was fully transcribed and thematic analysis was done.
Results: The findings of this research on the adolescents' health-information needs emphasized on two overarching themes including adjusting education according to the needs (includes two subcategories: preferred content and method of delivery) and public participation in education (includes two subcategories: promotion of mass media performance and social networks participation in education). Ëach category consisted of some subcategories which were explained with experiences of participants.
Çonclusion: The results show that promotion of female adolescents' knowledge on reproductive health and life skills are the most important health-information needs.

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Background and purpose: Quality of life (QOL) is believed to be influenced by sexual function during menopause. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sexual function and QOL among post-menopausal women.

Materials and methods: We performed a community-based, descriptive-analytical study of 405 post-menopausal women, aged 40 to 65 years. A multi-stage, randomized sampling was conducted. Data was obtained through interviews using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), World Health Organization Quality of Life-BRIEF )WHOQOL-BREF(, and a researcher-made questionnaire. Data was then analyzed using t-test and multiple linear regression. 

Results: The mean age and mean duration of menopause were 52.84±3.7 years and 19.8±14.4 months, respectively. Among the subjects 324 (80%) were housewives and 369 (91.2%) had diploma or lower levels of education. The mean total score of QOL was 54.53±7.18. The highest and lowest scores were associated with physical health and psychological health domains, respectively. Overall, 61% had female sexual dysfunction (FSD). The total scores for FSFI were in a positive correlation with the total scores for WHOQOL-BREF (r=0.285, P<0.001) and the scores for all domains of QOL. The scores in all domains of FSFI, except in the domain of pain, had a positive correlation with the total score of QOL (P<0.001). Satisfaction with marital relationship in post-menopausal women was associated with an increase in QOL (P<0.001, r=0.258).

Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction could have a negative impact on the quality of life in post-menopausal women. Therefore, to enhance the quality of life in this population sexual dysfunction requires more attention when implementing women’s health initiatives.

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Background and purpose: Empowerment is considered as one of the health efficiency components and is regarded as a personal right. In the Millennium Development Goals there is a particular focus on women's empowerment. women's empowerment and self-esteem and the interconnection between these concepts are highly important and can help in achieving sustainable development. In current study we aimed at investigating the relationship between self-esteem and empowerment of women in reproductive decisions.

Materials and methods: A descriptive-correlation study was carried out in 400 women attending health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The subjects were recruited using multistage cluster sampling. Three questionnaires were used to collect the data, including socio-demographic characteristics, women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Data analysis was done in SPSS V17 .

Results: Our study showed an average level of women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making. We found a direct correlation between self-esteem and empowerment of women in reproductive decision-making (r=0.34, P< 0.001).

Conclusion: Empowerment of women in general and in family planning domain requires special attention. Self-esteem is associated with women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making.