A multidisciplinary expert group endorsed a draft definition of sexual and reproductive well-being and outlined a pathway for developing a concise measure assessing people's holistic experiences of sexuality and reproduction that can monitor the extent to which people are having the sexual and reproductive lives they wish to have.
Existing measures of well-being neglect sexual and reproductive experiences despite these being core dimensions of people's lives.
A multidisciplinary and geographically diverse group of experts was convened to consider the development of a measure of sexual and reproductive well-being.
The expert group endorsed a draft definition of sexual and reproductive well-being.
The expert group demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to developing a measure capturing the construct of sexual and reproductive well-being.
Core considerations for measure development were delineated, including diversity of normative and political contexts and the critical importance of meaningful community engagement.
A pathway for measure development was defined with the goal of creating a concise, holistic assessment tool.
This research describes the work of an international, multidisciplinary group of experts who came together to address a significant gap in how we measure health and well-being: the absence of any validated tool that captures whether people are having positive sexual and reproductive experiences. Current health measures in this area focus almost entirely on problems — diseases, unintended pregnancies, complications — rather than on whether people feel their sexual and reproductive lives are fulfilling and aligned with their own wishes. The expert group agreed on a draft definition of sexual and reproductive well-being and mapped out a process for building a new measurement tool that would fill this gap. The researchers identified several important challenges that must be addressed in developing such a measure. Because attitudes, norms, and laws around sexuality and reproduction vary enormously across cultures and countries, any measure must be sensitive to this diversity. The group also emphasized that communities themselves must be meaningfully involved in the development process, not just consulted as an afterthought. The goal is to produce a short, practical questionnaire that can be used in research and public health programs worldwide to track whether people are actually able to live the sexual and reproductive lives they want. This research suggests that placing positive well-being — not just the absence of harm — at the center of sexual and reproductive health could shift how programs and policies are designed and evaluated. Rather than only asking whether someone avoided an unintended pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection, a well-being-focused approach would also ask whether people feel agency, pleasure, satisfaction, and alignment between their desires and their experiences. Developing and validating such a measure is presented as a necessary next step toward making this broader vision of health measurable and actionable.
Dehlendorf C, Sarnaik S, Bell A, Lindsey A, Hart J, Desai S, et al.. (2025). What About Well-Being? Measuring What We Really Care About in Sexual and Reproductive Health.. Studies in family planning. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.70022