الفهرس 
I. IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Sexually transmitted diseases are infections, which mainly transmitted from one person to another through intimate contact (CDC, 2015). WHO also define STDs, as they are infections that are spread primarily through person-to-person via sexual contact. There are more than 30 different sexually transmissible bacteria, viruses and parasites (WHO, 2015).
Sexually transmitted infections affect all corners of society and burden public health systems throughout the world (Avert, 2013). Women especially of reproductive age group are physically, mentally and socially more vulnerable to reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases (Arun & Sharma, 2015). The prevalence of STDs continues to increase throughout the world threatening millions of people. However, the actual incidence of STDs is not known in most countries, little work was done to evaluate the size of this problem (Ali, Aziz, Helmy, Mobdy, Darwish, 2013). The purpose of the current study was to assess perception of women at reproductive age toward sexually transmitted diseases. The present study was carried out at family planning clinic at Maternal and Child Health Centers at Shebin El-Koom (Qebli and Bahari). Descriptive co-relational cross sectional design was used to assess STDs perception. The target population of this study was women at reproductive age who attend to family planning clinic at Maternal and child health centers at
Shebin El-Koom. and fulfilling the following inclusion criteria: Married women and their age ranged between (18-49) years. Sample size of this study was 268 women.
Throughout the course of the present study ;data were collected using two instruments which were developed by the researcher and revised by five experts (four experts from the Faculty of Nursing and one expert from Faculty of Medicine), then tested for validity and reliability. Those instruments were written in English then translated into Arabic to be appropriate for participant women.
I. Socio-Demographic Data Questionnaire:
This instrument was devoted to obtain complete data about women. The instrument consisted of the following parts:
Part 1: socio-demographic data: It included age, duration of marriage, educational level, occupation, residence and income. Part II: medical and surgical history: as suffering from any disease, taking medication for acute or chronic diseases and previous surgery. Part III: menstrual history: as age of menarche, regularity of menstruation, menstrual cycle duration and amount of blood loss. Part IV: obstetric history: as previous pregnancy, previous delivery, number of live births and abortion. Part V: contraceptive methods: as using family planning methods, duration of usage, complication of family planning method. II. Perception of women at reproductive age toward STDs Questionnaire:
This instrument assessed perception (knowledge, beliefs and attitude) of women at reproductive age toward sexually transmitted diseases. This tool consisted of the following parts:
Part I: Knowledge about STDs: as types of STDs, signs and symptoms of STDs, mode of transmission of STDs and source of information. Part II : Beliefs about STDs: curability of STDs, complication of STD and to what extend it affect reproductive health Part III: Attitude toward STDs: caring about searching for STDs, effectiveness of using condom, effectiveness of douching in protection of STDs and assessment of action that women would take if they found out that women or their husband had one of these STDs. Approaches to ensure ethics were considered in the study regarding confidentiality and informed consent. Confidentiality was achieved by the use of locked sheets with the names of participants replaced by numbers. All participants were informed that the information they provided during the study would be kept confidential and used only for statistical purpose and after finishing the study, the finding would be presented as a group data with no personal participant’s information remained. After explanations prior to enrollment in the study, informed consent was obtained from all participants. Each participant was informed that participation in the study was voluntary, and she could withdraw from the study whenever she decided to and each one was given the opportunity to freely refuse participation. They were free to ask any question about the study details.
The current study concluded that studied women had low perception levels because of having poor knowledge level, negative beliefs and attitude toward STDs. This answer the first research question which was what is the perception of women at reproductive age toward STDs?
The current study also showed that there was correlation between perception (knowledge, beliefs and attitude) toward STD and socio-demographic variables. There was a high perception level among young, educated, urban resident, employee women and those with enough income. This answer the second research question that was: Is there a relationship between perception of women at reproductive age toward STDs and their socio-demographic data (age, education, residence, occupation and income)?