Identifying and Prioritizing the Affecting Factors on Childbearing in Iran

The purpose of this research is to identify and prioritize factors affecting childbearing in the country. The current research is applied in terms of orientation and quantitative in nature from the point of view of methodology. In this research, two quantitative methods, fuzzy Delphi and Marcos, have been used for data analysis. The theoretical population of the research is childbearing experts and the sampling method is judgmental. The sample size in this study was 12 people and 10 people responded. In order to collect research data, interview tools and questionnaires of expert assessment and priority assessment have been used. This research has been done in several stages. In the first step, factors affecting childbearing were extracted using literature review and interviews with experts. In the second step, 43 extracted factors were screened by distributing expert questionnaires and fuzzy Delphi method. 10 factors had a defuzzy number higher than 0.7 and were selected for final prioritization. According to Marcos's output, the factors of pursuing gender equality policy in all fields, modern lifestyle, degree of compatibility and cohesion, housing situation and employment of young women were the highest priority respectively. Research proposals were developed based on priority factors and interviews with focus groups. Some of the suggestions include revising the existing laws of the country and educational institutions in order to increase childbearing, promoting the Islamic-Iranian lifestyle and supporting cultural productions in schools and universities, as well as allocating land and cheap housing to young and childbearing families.