Informed Reproductive Decision-Making: The Impact of Providing Fertility Information on Fertility Knowledge and Intentions to Delay Childbearing

Objective: To examine the impact of providing fertility information on personal levels of fertility knowledge and intentions to delay childbearing. Methods: Participants (n = 69 young childless women) were randomly assigned to either an experimental (fertility-related) or control (alcohol-related) informational intervention group. Subsequent to the exposure to information, participants completed a questionnaire measuring fertility knowledge and intentions for reproduction. We predicted that the provision of fertility-related information would result in greater fertility knowledge and less intention to delay childbearing among young childless women. Results: The young women exposed to the brief fertility information intervention were significantly more likely to respond correctly to questions testing their fertility knowledge, and reported less intention to delay childbearing than the young women in the control group. Conclusion: This study provided evidence that providing fertility-related information contributes to greater reproductive knowledge and may affect childbearing intentions. Future research is warranted to examine the influence of fertility information on reproductive decision-making within a theoretical framework in order to ensure that subsequent information interventions maximize their effectiveness.