American Journal of Advances in Nursing Research

A STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE OF INFERTILE COUPLES REGARDING INFERTILITY IN SELECTED HOSPITALS AT KOLLAM DISTRICT

Sindhu Santhosh & Dr. Linson C.C.

sindhukoikal@gmail.com

Infertility, Infertile couple, knowledge, ART

Infertility is defined as a failure to conceive within one or more years of regular unprotected coitus. Most of the infertile couples are not having adequate knowledge regarding infertility and recent advancements in infertility management which is leading to the reduced acceptance of this treatment. Aim: The study is attempted to assess the knowledge regarding infertility among the infertile couples and compare the knowledge between male and female participants in selected hospitals of Kollam district. Methods: 100 infertile participants from the selected hospitals of Kollam district. A structured questionnaire was developed to assess the knowledge of infertile couples. Results: The findings revealed that the respondents had adequate knowledge regarding the meaning of infertility. But, they lacked knowledge in few aspects like causes, diagnosis, treatment and preventive measures for infertility. The knowledge of infertile couples was influenced by age, sex, education, income, screening and treatment. There was no relationship between knowledge of infertile couples on infertility and source of information, religion, and duration of infertility, reasons for infertility according to wife and reasons for infertility according to husband. Among the couples, females were having more knowledge on infertility when compared to males. Conclusion: This study shows that the knowledge of infertile couples regarding infertility, majority of the infertile couples had inadequate knowledge about infertility. Significant relationship was found between knowledge scores of infertile couples and their age, sex, education, income, screening and treatment. Insignificant relationship was found between knowledge and their source of health related information, religion, duration of infertility, reasons according to wife and reasons according to husband. Among the couples, knowledge of infertility was found more in infertile females when compared to infertile males. Researcher felt that there is a need for conducting such studies among this group frequently.