Estimating the Size and Age-gender Distribution of Women’s Active Social Networks

Background: Network Scale-up (NSU) method is an indirect method for the estimation of hidden behaviors. In NSU, respondents are asked about the number of members they know from a subpopulation of interest (e.g., injecting drug user) and assume that the prevalence of risky behavior in the networks of a random sample of respondents is similar to that of the population. However, first, we need to identify the total number of people each respondent knows [the social network size (C)]; Moreover, certain risky behaviors happen in particular age and gender groups. Our aim was to determine the size and age-gender distribution of female networks.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Kerman, Iran. A total sample of 1275 women was recruited using multistage sampling. In this study, 25 first names were selected as reference groups. Participants were asked how many people they know with the selected names. The respondent’s answers were categorized into eight separate age-gender subgroups and C was estimated for each subgroup.Findings: The results of this study showed that, on average, each Kermanian woman knows about 234 people and about two-thirds of them are female (82 males and 152 females); moreover, participants were more likely to communicate with their peers. The majority of males (88%) known by Kermanian women were in young and middle age groups; in contrast the female young and middle age groups, who are at reproductive age, form only 45% of the female part of their networks.Conclusion: We have seen that the age-gender distribution of the networks is not the same as that of the general population. Our figures can be applied in NSU studies focusing on risky behaviors of particular age and gender groups

Psychometric and clinical assessment of the Persian-SCREENIVF among infertile couples

There is a significant rate of infertility and subsequent psychological problems among couples worldwide. Screening and treatment of the emotional burden of infertility and related Assistant Reproductive Therapies help to improve the quality of life of infertile people. Specific instruments which measure infertility-related status are more accurate. This study aimed to validate the SCREENIVF questionnaire to be used for the psychological screening and care of couples who seek infertility treatment. This quantitative psychometric study was run in infertility private and governmental clinics in XXX on 344 infertile women and men. They filled Persian-SCREENIVF. The Rasch-Andrich rating scale model was applied to investigate the psychometric quality of the survey. Additionally, structural equation modelling was run for model fit and construct validity as well. Moreover, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to examine the effects of demographic variables on the extracted constructs of the instrument in the population of the study. The results revealed five constructs in the questions with the corresponding items. Overall, the demographic variables have no contribution to these five constructs. Persian-SCREENIVF can be used for further studies about emotional disturbances in infertility problems