Characteristic | Clients/users | Health Care Professionals |
---|---|---|
Knowledge | ▸ RH: inadequate knowledge about the concept, availability and benefits [73]. ▸ Premarital checkup: • Egypt: lack of knowledge among general population even among educated respondents [78]. • KSA: university students aware of its importance in preventing transmission of hereditary diseases to offsprings and ensuring their partner’s health [79]. ▸ Sexual Health: • Younger boys: more aware of physiological/emotional puberty changes of their own sex; but not of opposite sex [28]. • Adults: dialogue between patients and their treating physicians regarding ED assists patients to seek proper/safe medical advice [80]. | ▸ Healthcare workers sometimes displayed low knowledge e.g., about ICSI [73, 75, 76]. ▸ Clinical practitioners: more likely to have accurate knowledge of FP options than oncologists [74]. ▸ Sexual Health: • Urologists: more knowledgeable about ED, but gynecologists had better attitude towards ED patients [81]. • Nurses: most were not very knowledgeable about/confident to address sexuality, viewing it as not within their responsibilities [82, 83]. • HCP: lacked confidence in their sex education skills and knowledge [84]. |
Attitude | ▸ RH services: users not always satisfied with HCP attitudes, stating it was unpleasant, with poor communication and inappropriate management approach [73]. ▸ Premarital checkup: • Egypt: among general population, most respondents, except unmarried males, had favorable attitude [78]. • KSA: most university students had generally positive attitude and good intended practices toward PMS. Most participants demanded implementing a law that prohibits incompatible marriages [79]. ▸ Sexual Health: • Many adolescent boys found female genital cutting necessary, favoured polygamous marriage at younger age, but not consanguineous marriages [28]. • ED: sensitive issue among older clients, hence in rarely consulting. Conversely, university students were more liberal toward sex, had more risky behaviours [80, 85]. • Gay communities: highly knowledgeable but had high-risk behavior (low condom use/ HIV testing), most disclosed their sexual orientation only to their partners and not to their HCP even if needed [86]. | ▸ Physicians and HCP with previous SRH had better youth-friendly attitudes [87]. ▸ Family physicians: favorable attitudes toward infertility management, but attitude varied with age, gender and experience [77]. ▸ Oncologists: low perception of importance of FP, leading to poor referral to specialists; gender bias in informing males about FP options prior to cancer treatment compared to females [74, 75]. ▸ Sexual Health: • Nurses: negative attitude influenced by their beliefs about sex/sex education (viewing early sex education as problematic), negative attitude was associated with sex (female) and no previous training on sexuality [82,83,84]. • Lebanon: HCP had positive attitudes towards LGBT patients; mental health providers less likely to believe that homosexuality is mental health disorder, but more likely a natural variation on the sexual orientation spectrum [88]. |