Actions to increase knowledge about age-related fertility decline in women

Abstract

Objective: There is a strong body of published data corroborating the current lack of awareness of age-related fertility decline (ARFD), but few studies have evaluated specific interventions aimed at increasing ARFD knowledge. Here, we review the literature examining the instruments developed and the educational interventions performed to date.

Methods: We carried out a narrative review based on a literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Scopus between January 2010 and December 2017.

Results: The instruments available comprise websites, paper brochures, slide presentations and tailored information, mainly developed with the input of university students. The eight interventions reviewed include surveys before and/or after a specific intervention, with and without a control group, in randomised and non-randomised designs. Overall, the interventions were effective in increasing ARFD knowledge and lowering the desired age for childbearing in the short term. These results were not always maintained, however, in the long term, possibly due to a lack of perceived risk of future infertility among those studied.

Conclusion: Further interventions need to be targeted to both young people and health care providers, and should be as personalised as possible. A greater number of validated instruments are also needed to reliably measure the effectiveness of any intervention.

摘要

目的：已发表的大量数据证实了目前缺乏对年龄相关性不孕的认识, 但却很少有能够增加相关知识的针对性措施的研究。因此, 我们回顾文献, 看目前存在的相关干预措施及教育措施。

方法：我们用Pubmed, Science, PsycINFO及Scopus进行搜索2010年1月到2017年12月期间的文献。

结果：目前可用的工具包括网站、纸质小册子、幻灯片演示文稿和定制的信息, 主要是面对大学生群体的信息输入。八个干预措施审查包括调查前和/或调查后的特殊干预, 有对照或者没有对照组, 随机和非随机设计。总之, 干预措施可有效的在短期内增加年龄相关性不孕的认识, 降低预期生育年龄。然而, 长期来看, 这些结果并不总是保持不变, 这可能是由于在这些研究对象缺乏对未来不孕风险的认识。

结论：需要针对年轻人和卫生保健人员采取进一步的干预措施, 而且应该尽可能地个性化。还需要更多的有效的工具来衡量这些任何干预措施的有效性。

Keywords:

• Age-related infertility
• educational interventions
• fertility awareness
• fertility knowledge
• health promotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.