Abstract:

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to examine the sexual and reproductive health stigmatization tendencies of midwifery students and related factors. Method: The research is of cross-sectional descriptive type. The population of the research consisted of students studying at the Midwifery Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a state university in the autumn semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. 288 students participated in the research. The data of the study were collected with the “Introductory Information Form” and the “Scale of Stigma of Sexual Health and Reproductive Health in Young Women”. SPSS 22 program was used in data analysis. Data; It was obtained by T test, one-way analysis of variance method, LSD multiple comparison method. Results: The mean score of the sexual and reproductive health stigma scale of young women in general was 6.78, and 3.56 for the external stigma sub-dimension, 1.68 for the internal stigma sub-dimension, and 1.55 for the unreal stigmatization sub-dimension. In addition, when the stigmatization tendencies of student midwives are examined according to socio-demographic variables; Significant differences were found between the stigma total score and the mean scores of the extrinsic, intrinsic, and unreal stigmatization sub-dimensions (p<.05). Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that student midwives' tendency to stigmatize sexual health and reproductive health is low and there is a relationship with socio-demographic variables. It is recommended that trainings for changing knowledge, belief, attitude and behavior should be added to the midwifery education curriculum.

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