Introduction & Objective: Women's active participation in cultural activities is an issue that always has been faced with many obstacles and problems. So that, the barriers have become evident in various cultural, social and religious forms and each can effect on the level of women's participation in activities. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of "patriarchal culture" and "mass media, with emphasis on TV programs", as some cultural barriers to women's participation in cultural activities at cultural centers of Khorasgan city from the attitudes of the women in this city. Findings: Statistical community of all women in Khorasgan was included of 27,199 people in which, by using a formula to determine the sample size, 378 were selected as example, with multi-stage random sampling proportion to the sample size. A researcher made questionnaire was used to collect data and face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts in this field. Reliability of the measuring tools was estimated equivalent with 0.82 using Cronbach's alpha, which implies the acceptable validity of the measuring tools. Data analysis was performed in two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Findings showed that the role of patriarchy, as hindering women's participation in cultural activities, has been more than average. The TV programs played same role as a barrier to women's participation in activities in cultural centers of Khorazgan city.

Background & aim: The Fertility rate is decreasing in most countries and the total fertility rate (TFR) has reached its lower replacement level, and negative population growth is observed in some countries, including Iran. This study aimed to explore the childbearing barriers among women living in northern Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was performed with a conventional content analysis approach in Gorgan, Iran, from November 2018 to October 2019. A total of 23 women participated in this study. Of these, ten women had delayed childbearing at least four years after marriage, nine experienced induced abortion (without medical reasons), and four were voluntarily childless. Three childbearing politicians were also interviewed. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews and analyzed following recommendations by Hsieh & Shannon. The four criteria of credibility, dependability, conformability, and transferability were used to achieve trustworthiness. Results: Seven themes emerged as childbearing barriers: undesirable society, economic hardship, work-family conflict, changed value of motherhood and childbearing, self-interest and convenience, feeling of inadequacy about parental role, being worried about child suffering and loneliness. Conclusion: It seems that societal and personal concerns are the most important childbearing barriers among Iranian women. Perhaps some barriers such as economic and social problems could be resolved by advancing women's status in society, equality policies and paid parental leave. However, personal concerns might be reconciled by implementing appropriate educational interventions ensuring that assist couples in making informed decisions about childbearing.

Aims Health and behavior are closely related subjects because lots of diseases are rooted in individuals’ unhealthy behaviors and habits. The current study aimed at identifying barriers and strategies of overcoming barriers in healthy nutritional behaviors in women. Participants & Methods This qualitative study was conducted in 2014 based on content analysis. The participants were 50 married women with the age range of 18 to 50 years old referring to 4 healthcare centers in Sanandaj, who were selected by purposive sampling. Using semi-structured interviews, the data were collected through group discussions and individual in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis approach was applied for data analyses and MAXQDA 10 software was employed to analyze the data. Findings Of the total interviews and discussion groups, 200 initial codes were obtained and they were grouped into 4 categories, including individual barriers, social barriers, overcoming individual barriers, and overcoming social barriers. Lack of awareness and healthy cooking skills, unhealthy diet of parents as a negative role model, laziness of wives and women, lack of time, lack of mental relaxation, illiteracy economic issues, and the role of government were mentioned by the participants as individual and social barriers. Conclusion Barriers in healthy nutritional behaviors from women’ s perspective are devided into individual and social barriers and some strategies are mentioned to overcome these barriers, including learning required skills in terms of healthy diet/nutrition, raising awareness, time management, monitoring the contaminated foods by the government, providing public information, training through media, and resolving economic problems.

Background: Breast cancer is a very common cancer in women which is diagnosable using inexpensive, accessible, and easy screening programs in the early stages of the disease. Culture, beliefs, and opinions of women affect adoption of screening techniques. Nursing professionals are supposed to be aware of such influencing factors. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate barriers to breast self‑ examination (BSE) among women in Isfahan province. Materials and Methods: During a cross‑ sectional descriptive and correlational study in 2017, 1509 women in rural and urban areas of Isfahan province were selected using multistage sampling method. Data were collected by visiting homes, using a questionnaire, and conducting interviews and were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: The results showed that barriers consisted of lack of awareness about breast examination (p = 0. 006), lack of awareness about BSE techniques (p < 0. 001), and lack of training by personnel of healthcare centers (p = 0. 016), which were significantly associated with residency areas (i. e., urban and rural areas). Moreover, women’ s educational level was significantly associated with 5 of 10 barriers and their occupation was significantly associated with 2 of 10 barriers to BSE. Conclusions: Among the several factors that may affect BSE, a part of them in Isfahan women act as obstacle that they are moderated by some demographic factors such as residency areas, education level, and occupation. Therefore, nursing plans and interventions aimed at developing BSE should be tailored to suit the unique demographic characteristics of women.