Fertility Knowledge and its Determinants among Married Men and Women in Tehran

Incorrect beliefs about reproductive biology and reduction of fertility potential with age and the exposure of environmental factors can be influential in delaying behaviors of marriage and childbearing particularly among women. This study aims to determine fertility knowledge and predictors among men and women who are about to marry and attend to premarital counseling clinics in Tehran. Hence, a cross sectional study among 204 couples who were eligible was conducted. These couples were selected from among clients of two clinics which provide premarital counseling programs using convenient sampling in 2015. The study instrument comprised of three sections. First section comprised of socio-economic and demographic questions; the second section was the Cardiff fertility knowledge scale (CFKS) which it’s validity and reliability was assessed, and the third section was the questionnaire of Health Literacy of Iranian Adults (HELIA). Results indicated that only 44 percent of men and women had accurate fertility knowledge and a significant difference was evident by gender. Bi-variate analysis indicated that education and health literacy and intention for spacing marriage and first birth has a direct and significant relation with fertility knowledge, while linear regression model showed that after the control of age, only education and health literacy remained as two significant determinants of fertility knowledge. Therefore, some educational intervention based on educational settings and media on fertility and factors affect fertility potential particularly among less educated people and those with lower health literacy is recommended.