International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-780253201312263659EN20131218<p>Background:Premarital counseling equips couples with <br />information about all aspects ofsexuality and the related health issues. This study was aimed to assess the quality of premarital counseling services in health care centers in Tabriz.<br />Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 236 randomly selected women from premarital counseling centers in Tabriz was carried out and a self-structured instrument including items on demographic characteristics, the quality of counseling condition and providers, family planning, genetic and thalassemia counseling and sexual health was used for data gathering.<br />Results:The results showed that the viewpoint of clients about relationship with health care provider and condition ofconsultation was suitable in 75.8% and 85.2% of women, respectively. It was found that in 72.5%, 38.1% and 49.6% of clients the counseling areas were in moderate level respectively for counseling about importance of family planning, genetic counseling and thalassemia. It was indicated that 58.5% of participants expressed the sexual <br />health aspect of the premarital classes as poor or completely poor.<br />Conclusions:Our study results can provide suitable information for health policy providers to improve the quality of premarital counseling classes. In order to develop a relatively stable behavior in young couples, it is recommended that the quality of the classes would be overemphasized.<br />Keywords:Counseling, family planning training, genetic, marriages, self-concepts</p>http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/1275http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/1275/1398