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. 2021 Sep;28(3):457-467.
doi: 10.1007/s10880-020-09743-3. Epub 2020 Oct 1.

Perceived Threat of Infertility and Women's Intention to Anticipate Childbearing: The Mediating Role of Personally Perceived Barriers and Facilitators

Juliana Pedro  1   2 , Tânia Brandão  3   4 , Joana Fernandes  5 , Alberto Barros  6   7 , Pedro Xavier  7   8 , Lone Schmidt  9 , Maria E Costa  5   4 , Mariana V Martins  5   4
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Perceived Threat of Infertility and Women's Intention to Anticipate Childbearing: The Mediating Role of Personally Perceived Barriers and Facilitators

Juliana Pedro et al. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

To study the role of perceived threat of infertility, barriers, and facilitators in intention to anticipate childbearing, a cross-sectional study was conducted with 240 women desiring to have children and committed in a heterosexual relationship. Participants answered an online survey between July 2016 and February 2018. Results showed that perceiving infertility as a strong barrier and being willing to use fertility treatment as a facilitator fully mediated the effect of perceived threat on intention to anticipate childbearing. In conclusion, women who perceive themselves at risk of being infertile will consider, to a higher degree, infertility as a strong barrier to achieve their reproductive life plan or will report higher willingness to use fertility treatments, which in turn would increase intentions to anticipate childbearing. Since evidence showed lack of fertility awareness, intervention initiatives should target these mediators.

Keywords: Fertility awareness; Health belief model; Infertility prevention; Reproductive life plan; Women.

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