Examining the relationship between sexual health literacy and sexual myths of students at the faculty of health sciences with structural equation modeling

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the relationship between sexual health literacy and sexual myths among health sciences students using structural equation modeling. METHODS: Designed as cross-sectional research, data were collected from students in the midwifery and nursing departments of a university in Southeastern Anatolia. The Personal Information Form, Sexual Health Literacy Scale (SHLS), and Sexual Myths Scale (SMS) were used. Ethical approval was obtained (Decision number: 29/1 1/2023-477). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS 25 and JAMOVI 2.3.28. RESULTS: Results showed that 58.6% of participants were aged 18-21, 79.4% were female, 38.7% had a family member to talk to about sexuality, and 46.8% used the internet as a source of sexual information. The mean SHLS score was 52.07 ± 8.11, while the mean SMS score was 68.04 ± 15.59. A negative, weak, and statistically significant correlation was found between SHLS and SMS (r = -0.155; p = 0.001). The SEM analysis indicated that sexual myths were significantly associated with sexual health literacy, accounting for approximately 2.4% of the variance in SHLS scores within the tested model. CONCLUSIONS: The mean SHLS score was slightly above the midpoint of the possible scale range, suggesting a moderate level of sexual health literacy among the participants. According to the structural equation model, sexual health literacy (dependent variable) and sexual myths (independent variable) explained a small proportion of the variance. Higher sexual health literacy scores were associated with lower levels of belief in sexual myths.