Factor associated with knowledge and perception on fertility in the era of covid-19 pandemic among medical undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia

Mohd Shofe, Nur Ain Faqihah and Choy, Ja Shen and Balachandran, Nithiyah (2021) Factor associated with knowledge and perception on fertility in the era of covid-19 pandemic among medical undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

Text FPSK1 2021 32.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

Introduction: Infertility is a reproductive system disorder that fails to produce a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of frequent unprotected sexual intercourse. Infertility is a public health problem during the reproductive age, affecting about 10-15% of couples attempting to achieve pregnancy worldwide. Studies showed that fertility rates in Malaysia from 1960 to 2018 declined from 6.45 to 2.001 live births per woman, representing a decline of 69%. Previous study suggested that knowledge and perception among students was still inadequate. Aim: Our study aimed to assess the fertility knowledge and perception among UPM medical undergraduates in the era of COVID-19 pandemic era which covered the general and covid-related information. Moreover, this study assessed the socio-demographic factors (age, gender, year of study, ethnicity, marital status, family household income, family history of infertility and total number of siblings) that were associated with the fertility knowledge among UPM medical undergraduates. Methodology: A cross-sectional study with the use of an online self-administrative questionnaire conducted among 340 UPM medical undergraduates. Universal sampling was used in this research to collect data from 1st April 2021 until 25th April 2021. Data analysis and statistical tests such as Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test to study the associations with sociodemographic factors were carried out using SPSS Version 26.0. Results: This study found that the median score for general fertility knowledge among UPM medical undergraduates was 16 (IQR = 3), while the median score for COVID-19 related fertility knowledge was 2 (IQR = 2). Most of the respondents believed that infertility should be treated medically (88.8%) and both genders should be investigated in case of infertility (88.2%). Besides, the majority of them were neutral on the government action to suspend fertility treatment during COVID-19 (47.9%) and they believed it was due to the shifting of health resources for COVID-19 infected patients (52.6%). This study also found that there were significant associations between general fertility knowledge and age (p< 0.001), year of study (p< 0.001) and family history of infertility (p= 0.008). Furthermore, there were significant associations between fertility knowledge in relation to COVID-19 pandemic and year of study (p= 0.040) and ethnicity (p= 0.004). Conclusion: This study deduced that the knowledge level among UPM medical undergraduates for general fertility issues and COVID-19 related fertility issues were adequate. The perception of medical undergraduates towards fertility treatment was generally well. Keyword: COVID-19, fertility, knowledge, medical students, perception

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	04 Sep 2023 06:51
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2023 06:51
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1033

Actions (login required)

View Item