midwives' views on virginity testing: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: several cultural and social factors have influenced virginity testing as a medical procedure. this procedure is performed, but sometimes there is no scientific reason to perform it.objective: this study investigated the views of midwives working in tabriz, iran, about virginity testing.materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 210 midwives using the sociodemographic and a researcher-made questionnaire to assess midwives’ views on virginity testing. the samples were selected by random sampling among midwives working in tabriz city, iran. the pearson correlation test, independent t-test, and one-way anova were used to determine the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and midwives’ views on virginity testing.results: the mean±sd age of the participants was 35.25±8.9 years. the overall score of the midwives’ view on virginity testing was 206.98, of an attainable range from 55 to 275. there was a significant relationship between the overall score of midwives’ views on virginity testing with the variables of age (p=0.033), education level (p=0.001), ethnicity (p=0.012), place of residence (p=0.001), and place of employment (p=0.001). most midwives (56.2%) believe virginity testing has no therapeutic value and prevention of problems and should not be done, and 59.1% opposed virginity testing motivated by a man’s right to impose a healthy virginity condition on marriage. most participants (81.9%) agreed to perform virginity testing to investigate rape and sexual abuse.conclusion: the authorities and the legislators should take the necessary measures to prepare the regulations and provide appropriate training to this group.