Keywords
infertility
natural family planning
reproductive physiology
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction: Falling fertility rates and prevalence of infertility become serious problems of public health that affect families all over the world. Both men and women are delaying parenthood for several reasons, such as undertaking further education, pursuing careers, travelling, finding a partner later in life and facing the challenges of establishing secure finances and housing. Unfortunately their fertility declines with age and this awareness may influence the prioritization of life plans. Medical students are specially dedicated to promote health literacy in their future practice as well as in they private life. Aim of the study and methodology: Aim of this study was to examine polish medical students’ awareness about the basic reproductive physiology. It was based on on-line authors’ own questionnaire among 445 female and 97 male medical students of a mean age 22.3 years from 13 polish medical universities. Results It showed that awareness of basic fertility physiology is on relatively high level what can be promising. Students who plan to start a family in the future have the highest overall mean score of correct answers (83%). Statistically lower levels of knowledge about fertility is presented by the students that have no decision about the future family or do not want to raise a family (80% and 72% respectively). The results seem to be similar irrespective of the participants’ gender, year of study, sexual activity and potential pregnancy prevention method. Conclusions It is still essential to introduce modern knowledge about fertility care and prophylaxis issue among future medical staff, so that they will properly take care of their health and educate their patients.
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