Ukrainian medical students’ attitudes to parenthood and knowledge of fertility

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate Ukrainian medical students’ intentions and attitudes in relation to future parenthood, and their knowledge about fertility. Methods: A classroom survey was carried out of randomly selected groups among 3568 Russian-speaking medical students. The response rate was 88.8%; 858 were female and 407 were male; the mean age was 20.6 (standard deviation [SD] 2.4) years. Results: One in four male and 16% of female respondents did not want to have children, 3.3% had children and 17% wanted one child only. Female respondents wished to have their first child when they were 24.4 (SD 2.4) years of age, and male respondents when they were 26.8 (SD 3.4) years of age. Around 60% of respondents reported there was a pronounced decline in female fertility after the age of 45 years. Conclusions: The desire to have children in the future is not apparent among medical students, especially not among men. Gaps in students’ knowledge about fertility need to be addressed by sexual and reproductive education.