Acculturation and Sexuality: Sexual Knowledge, Attitude and Help-seeking Behaviour of South Asian Women in Australia

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the influence of acculturation on sexual knowledge, sexual attitudes and sexual help-seeking behaviour of South Asian women in Australia. A cross-sectional convenient sample of 194 women from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan completed self-administered online or pen-paper survey. Socio-demographic variables, sexual knowledge, sexual attitudes (BSAS), help-seeking behaviour, breast and cervical cancer screening behaviour were measured. Acculturation (SMAS) was assessed using two domains: dominant society immersion (DSI) and ethnic society immersion (ESI). Non-parametric tests were used for descriptive, correlational and multivariate analyses. Overall, the participants demonstrated a fairly poor knowledge of sexual health. Dominant society immersed participants were more likely to have a higher level of sexual response cycle knowledge, whereas ethnic society immersed participants were more likely to have a lower level of knowledge related to sexually transmitted infections and diseases (STI/STDs). The participants showed moderately conservative attitudes towards sexual permissiveness, moderately liberal attitudes towards communion and instrumentality, and strongly endorsed positive attitudes towards birth control. Results indicated that acculturation had differential influence on different aspects of sexual attitudes. More than half of the participants reported having had a mammogram and a clinical breast examination (CBE). Results showed that DSI significantly predicted participants’ ever having had a Pap test or CBE. The findings of this study provided valuable insights that can inform the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate sexual health education and promotion initiatives to improve sexual health knowledge, encourage healthy sexual behaviour and increase participation in breast and cervical cancer screening among South Asian women in Australia.