Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Infertility among Teenagers with a view to Develop Health Education Pamphlet

Shilpa Kulkarni

Lecturer, SSUP Nursing College, Aurangabad.

*Corresponding Author Email: sksilpa99@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

A study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding infertility among teenagers studying in selected college of Ahmednagar, with a view to develop health education pamphlet. The objectives of the study were. 1. To assess the knowledge regarding infertility among teenagers studying in selected college of Ahmednagar. 2. To assess the attitude regarding infertility among teenagers studying in selected college of Ahmednagar. 3. To find out association between the knowledge and selected demographic variables. 4. To find out association between attitude and selected demographic variables. 5. To develop health education pamphlet. Methods: The conceptual framework of the study was based on Nola. J. Pender’s health promotion model. The study was conducted on a sample of 60 teenagers studying in New Art’s college of Ahmednagar, using simple random sampling technique. In the present study descriptive survey design was adopted. Data were collected by using structured knowledge questionnaire and Likert’s 5 point attitude scale. The obtained data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics like frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and chi square. Results: The knowledge scores of teenagers revealed that 58.33% had average knowledge, 25% had poor knowledge and remaining 16.66% had good knowledge regarding infertility.The attitude scores of teenagers revealed that 56.66% had neutral attitude, 25% had positive attitude and remaining 18.33% had negative attitude regarding infertility. Conclusion: The study concluded that the knowledge and attitude in the respective field was inadequate among the teenagers. So it is important to initiate actions to enhance the knowledge and attitude of the students in the college so that they can take necessary measures to prevent infertility.

KEYWORDS: Infertility, teenagers, health education pamphlet.

INTRODUCTION:

“With the birth of every child, man may calculate that God is still hopeful about the world he created”

William Words Worth.

Parenthood is a fundamental human need. To become a mother and father is one of life’s greatest blessings. The urge to reproduce is virtually universal. It is the dream of every married couple to have a child which will bring happiness and joy into their life. It changes their heart, thoughts, and actions. It is a lifelong event that forever changes the couples. Failure by both men and women to fulfill their need for a child is usually devastating, humiliating, and emotionally destructive. Thus it becomes a major life stressor, which can affect the well-adjusted couples¹.

Fertility or the ability to produce children has a positive social value whereas; infertility has a negative social value in Indian culture. Family and society look down couple who is not able to bear children within a reasonable period of time following marriage. Another reason for so much importance being attached to the social aspect of fertility behaviour is that family name will not be carried forward without a child².

Infertility is defined as failure to conceive within one or more years of regular unprotected coitus. Primary infertility denotes those patients who have never conceived. Secondary infertility indicates previous pregnancy but failure to conceive subsequently. Infertility is a heartbreaking condition that affects nine million couples in the world each year. It causes tremendous stress, can trigger debilitating sadness and depression, and can tear a marriage to shreds³.

It is shown that 1 in 6 couples are said to have infertility in India. If the couples are more than 35 years, it increases as 1 in 3 couples. The males are responsible for 40% while females are responsible for another 40% and 10% because of the problems within the both, 10% is due to idiopathic reasons. 2 A study conducted in rural areas of India on prevalence of female infertility among 232 couples, reported that 14.4% had the prevalence of infertility⁴.

The causes of infertility may be due to problem in the man, the women, or both: Problems with sperm (in 35% of couples), problems with ovulation (in 20%), problems with the fallopian tubes in the pelvis (in 30%), problems with mucus in the cervix (in 5% or fewer), unidentified factors (in 10%)⁵.

The management in infertility is an endless concept as advancements are being made day by day .Techniques like Artificial insemination, IVF-ET, GIFT, ZIFT, SUZI, ICSI, TESE, MESA, PESA are now done with increased feasibility and with cost effectiveness in such a way that even a layman can make use of it. New advancements made in the assisted reproductive techniques and in culture media, is helpful for the couples to make use of it at lesser cost⁶.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the knowledge regarding infertility among teenagers studying in selected college of Ahmednagar.

2. To assess attitude regarding infertility among teenagers studying in selected college of Ahmednagar.

3. To find out association between the knowledge regarding infertility among teenagers and selected demographic variables.

4. To find out association between attitude regarding infertility among teenagers and selected demographic variables.

5. To develop health education pamphlet.

Research Design:

The research design is descriptive design.

Research setting:

New Arts College, Ahmednagar.

Sample:

60 teenagers including male female between the age group 17-19 years.

Sample size and sampling technique:

The sample size considered for the study was 60 teenagers. The sampling technique used for the study was simple random sampling, which is a type of probability sampling.

Development and description of tool:

The tool used for gathering relevant data, structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding infertility and Likert’s 5 point attitude scale to assess attitude regarding infertility among the teenagers studying in selected college, Ahmednagar.

Description of the tool:

On modifying the tool as per the expert’s suggestions the final tool consists of two sections.

Section I: Information on demographic variables of respondents containing 7 items.

Section II: Knowledge questionnaire of 20 items on infertility with maximum score of 20.

Section III: Likert’s 5 point attitude scale to assess the attitude. Attitude scale consists 10 statements of which 5 are positive and 5 are negative. Maximum attitude score was ‘50’. For positive statements a score of ‘1’ was given to strongly disagree, score ‘2’ was given to disagree, score ‘3’ was given to uncertain, score ‘4’ was given to agree and score ‘5’ was given to strongly agree. For negative statements a score of ‘1’ was given to strongly agree, score ‘2’ was given to agree, score ‘3’ was given to uncertain, score ‘4’ was given to disagree and score ‘5’ was given to strongly disagree.

Criteria for selection of samples:

Inclusion criteria:

The criteria includes, who are

· In the age group 17-19years.

· Willing to participate in study.

· Able to read, write and understand English.

Exclusion criteria:

The study excludes the people who are not willing to participate.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

Table no. 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of samples according to demographic variables n=60

Sr no	Demographic variables	Frequency	Percentage
1.	Age
	· 17-18 year	21	35
	· 18.1-19 year	39	65
2.	Sex
	· Male	30	50
	· Female	30	50
3.	Education
	· 1^st year Degree	25	41.6
	· 2^nd year Degree	35	58.3
4.	Religion
	· Hindu	47	78.3
	· Christian	08	13.3
	· Muslim	02	3.3
	· Other	03	5
5.	Type of family
	· Nuclear	23	38.3
	· Joint	37	61.6
	· Extended	00	00
6.	Source of information
	· Family and friends	30	50
	· Health personnel	07	11.6
	· Mass media	08	13.3
	· Books journals	15	25
7.	Any family history of infertility and its treatment
	· Yes	20	33.3
	· No	40	66.6

Table no. 2: Association between knowledge regarding infertility and selected demographic variables. n=60

Sr no	Demographic variables	Good	Average	Poor	χ² Value	P Value	df
1.	Age
	· 17-18 year	06	13	03	2.76	0.252	2
	· 18.1-19 year	06	21	12		(NS)
2.	Sex
	· Male	05	17	08	0.397	0.820	2
	· Female	05	19	06		(NS)
3.	Education
	· 1^st year	04	15	06	0.490	0.976	2
	· 2^nd year	06	20	09		(NS)
4.	Religion
	· Hindu	07	28	12	12.6	0.050*	6
	· Christian	03	03	11
	· Muslim	00	02	00
	· Other	00	02	01
5.	Type of family
	· Nuclear	05	11	07	1.36	0.851	4
	· Joint	05	19	08		(NS)
	· Extended	00	00	00
6.	Source of information
	· Family and friends	06	15	09	5.10	0.531 (NS)	6
	· Health personnel	00	05	02
	· Mass media	01	05	02
	· Books journals	03	11	01
7.	Any family history of infertility and its treatment
	· Yes	02	12	06	0.966	0.617	2
	· No	08	21	11		(NS)

NS- Non significant * Significant

Table no. 3: Association between attitude of teenagers regarding infertility and selected demographic variables. n=60

Sr no	Demographic variables	Positive	Neutral	Negative	χ2 Value	P Value	df
1.	Age
	· 17-18 year	04	12	04	0.436	0.804	2
	· 18.1-19 year	11	21	08		(NS)
2.	Sex
	· Male	05	21	05	3.14	0.208	2
	· Female	10	14	06		(NS)
3.	Education
	· 1^st year	08	14	03	2.05	0.358	2
	· 2^nd year	06	22	07		(NS)
4.	Religion
	· Hindu	11	27	09	4.67	0.587	6
	· Christian	02	05	01		(NS)
	· Muslim	00	02	00
	· Other	02	01	00
5.	Type of family
	· Nuclear	09	13	02	3.59	0.465	4
	· Joint	08	21	08		(NS)
	· Extended	00	00	00
6.	Source of information
	· Family and friends	08	15	07	6.11	0.412 (NS)	6
	· Health personnel	00	06	01
	· Mass media	03	05	00
	· Books journals	03	08	04
7.	Any family history of infertility and its treatment
	· Yes	03	12	05	1.71	0.425	2
	· No	12	21	07		(NS)

NS-Non significant * Significant