Explaining Sociological Determinant Affecting Women's Social Health

Women's social health is a crucial factor in shaping the foundations and opportunities for the growth and development of any society. Indeed, the progress and excellence of a society depend on various aspects of its health, particularly in the physical, mental, and social dimensions. The purpose of this research is to elucidate the sociological determinants influencing the social health of women in Borujerd city. The quantitative research method, utilizing the survey technique and a questionnaire tool, was employed to collect data. A statistical sample of 385 individuals was selected from the studied population.
The research findings indicate a significant relationship between the feelings of cultural security, social security, political security, economic security, intellectual security, and identity security with the social health of women. The results of multivariate regression further reveal that the sense of security influences women's social health by 0.56; in other words, 56% of the variable representing women's social health can be explained as a dependent variable through the independent variables of the research.
Based on the research results, it can be concluded that the sense of security, as a crucial sociological structure, exerts a determining effect on the social health of women. The feeling of security serves as the essence and primary foundation of social health, and the realization of social health is contingent upon establishing a sense of security across social, cultural, intellectual, identity, economic, and political dimensions.
 
 
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Keywords




Women's ‌Health, ‌Sense of Security, ‌Social Health ‌
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‌Introduction
After the weaknesses of the biomedical approaches were revealed, attention turned towards the overall health approach. The overall approach considers various factors involved in determining a person's health, recognizing health as a state beyond the complete balance of the body. It considers the role of social, economic, psychological, and other factors in realizing health. The World Health Organization's definition aligns with this approach, defining health as physical, mental, and social well-being, extending beyond the absence of illness or disability. This definition introduced the role of social factors for the first time, laying the foundation for the social health model.
Social health, as a dimension of health, is the ability to perform social roles effectively and efficiently without harming others; it evaluates a person's condition and performance in society (Raymond et al., 2004: 14). While social health is a relatively new category in sociological literature, there have been limited experimental works in Iran. This research aims to explain the sociological determinants of women's social health, with a focus on the feeling of security as a significant and determining construct.
 
Methodology
This research adopts a comparative strategy, utilizing a quantitative method, survey technique, and a questionnaire tool. Deductive designs are applied through a deductive-hypothetical approach, employing a predetermined theoretical framework. Data were collected using survey techniques and questionnaires, processed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study population comprises women in Borujerd city, with a sample size of 385 people determined by Cochran's formula.
 
Findings‌
Regression analysis of the sense of security on social health reveals that, with a significance level of less than 5 percent, dimensions of the sense of security significantly affect social health. The beta effect order is as follows: sense of cultural security (0.23), sense of identity security (0.19), sense of social security (0.18), sense of intellectual security (0.11), and sense of political security (0.08). The regression model is accepted according to the statistical results, rejecting the research hypothesis (H0) regarding the lack of effect of the feeling of security on social health and supporting hypothesis (H1) regarding the effect of the feeling of security on health.
 
Result‌
The results indicate that the feeling of security, as a crucial sociological structure, determines women's social health. The feeling of security is the essence and main platform of social health. Social health cannot be realized without providing platforms for the feeling of security across social, cultural, intellectual, identity, economic, and political dimensions. Women play a fundamental role in the social health of society, and all-round development depends on women's social health. It is suggested to conduct more research, both quantitative and qualitative, in the field of the feeling of security and women's social health. Appropriate social and cultural policies should be implemented based on the research results to establish women's social health infrastructure as a crucial indicator of social development. Considering the determination of the sense of security on women's social health, with the greatest effect on the dimensions of social security and identity security, it is recommended to provide necessary infrastructures to enhance the sense of security, especially in the cultural, social, and identity dimensions.