Psychosocial and Cultural Factors Affecting Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health in Rural Populations

Abstract

Introduction: Rural populations have lower access to sexual and reproductive health than urban populations. This inequality is partially generated by psychosocial and cultural factors that influence the dynamics of interaction between health agents and rural residents. Few research works have developed a typology to systematically describe these factors.Method: An exploratory-descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in rural areas of 2 Argentine provinces. Fifty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with agents of local public health services and rural inhabitants dwellers in 2012 and 2013. The analysis was performed using a qualitative approach. Results: The study identified eight categories of psychosocial and cultural factors that affect access to sexual and reproductive health. These factors operate at the institutional and individual levels, and modulate the relationship between rural people and health system actors. Conclusion: This work involves dissimilar social actors through the use of a relational perspective. Their views of the process of access to sexual and reproductive health were reconstructed and the psychosocial and cultural factors affecting access were recognized from both perspectives. Based on the results, we generated a categorization that helps to comprehensively organize the complex process of access to sexual and reproductive health. Policy Implications: The results are useful for both the training of health agents and the design and implementation of sexual and reproductive health public policies in the rural area.