Knowledge and attitude regarding assisted reproductive technology among infertile women

Abstract

Introduction: Parenthood is a fundamental human need. Pregnancy is a profound experience that is unique among couples in which the outcome and their ability to manage pregnancy are often unpredictable. For many women suffering from infertility; ART is often viewed as a viable alternative. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude towards ART among infertile women attending infertility clinic and Gynecology OPD at WCH, JIPMER, and Puducherry.

Material and methods: The study was conducted among 180 infertile women attending the infertility clinic/ Gynecology OPD at WCH, JIPMER, Puducherry. The research design used for the present study was cross-sectional descriptive design and samples were selected by convenience sampling. Formal permission was obtained from the Nursing Research Monitoring Committee and Institute Ethical Committee Human studies, JIPMER. The data was collected with the help of Sociodemographic perform a, structured knowledge questionnaire and a standardized attitude scale for a period of 6 weeks. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The study identified that majority of the infertile women (75.60%) had poor knowledge, (16.7%) had average knowledge and only (7.8%) had good knowledge regarding the Assisted Reproductive Technology. More than half of the infertile women (82.2%) had favorable attitude, whereas (17.80%) of them had unfavorable attitude towards ART. There was a Positive correlation between knowledge and attitude scores among infertile women regarding ART. The level of knowledge and attitude regarding ART among infertile women were significantly associated with selected demographic characteristics such as educational status, spouse’s education, previous information about ART from Health professional, neighbors and media.

Conclusions: The study assessed the knowledge and attitude regarding ART among infertile women. It was found that the majority of the infertile women had poor knowledge regarding ART, but most of them had favorable attitude.