Objective(s): Immigration could affect people's sexual health. The present study aimed to compare sexual quality of life of Afghan immigrant women living in Tehran province with Iranian women.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that conducted from August 2022 to March 2023, in health centers of three counties in Tehran province with a continence sample of 218 Iranian and 218 Afghan immigrant women who met the inclusion criteria. The data was collected by a questionnaire containing items on women's sexual quality of life and demographic characteristics, history of fertility and menstruation, use of modern methods of family planning, and frequency of intercourse with spouse per week. The descriptive analysis of the data included reporting of frequencies, mean and standard deviation. To investigate the factors affecting quality of sexual life, multiple linear regression model was used.
Results: The results showed that the mean (SD) score of total sexual quality of life in Iranian women was 89.57 (17.34) and it was 81.40 (18.79) in Afghan immigrant women (P < 0.001). Age (P = 0.01), occupation (P < 0.001) and contraceptive method (P = 0.02) had an inverse and significant effect and education (P = 0.03), husband's occupation (P = 0.02) and number of sexual intercourses per week (P < 0. 001) had a significant direct effect on the sexual quality of life of Afghan immigrant women, and husband's occupation (P = 0.04), contraceptive method (P = 0.02), and number of sexual intercourses per week (P < 0.001) had a significant direct effect on the sexual quality of life of Iranian women.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, Iranian women had a higher sexual quality of life than Afghan immigrant women. These differences may be due to marginalization and lower education and cultural differences between Iranian and Afghan immigrant women. It is suggested that health centers provide sexual health promotion services for immigrant women.