ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1612784
Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding fertility preservation among women of childbearing age in southern China: A cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- The People’s Hospital of Suzhou New District, Suzhou, China
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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding fertility preservation among women of childbearing age and to analyse the factors influencing these behaviours. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 294 women of childbearing age (18-49 years) was conducted in urban healthcare settings between January 2024 and March 2024 using convenience sampling; it assessed fertility preservation behaviours and health beliefs through a structured questionnaire and multiple regression analysis. Results: Among the participants, 62.93% reported prior awareness of fertility-related concepts. Healthcare workers constituted the largest occupational group (45.24%), and 80.61% had a college education or above. High compliance was observed in personal hygiene (85.03%) and avoidance of smoking (71.77%), whereas only 31.97% regularly underwent fertility assessments. Health belief analysis revealed high levels of perceived susceptibility (87.41%) and perceived benefits (89.79%). Multiple regression analysis identified education level (β = 0.326, p < 0.001), healthcare occupation (β = 0.284, p < 0.001) and perceived benefits (β = 0.253, p < 0.001) as significant predictors of fertility preservation behaviours. Main barriers included time constraints (50.34%) and financial concerns (25.17%). Conclusion: Despite high awareness of the importance of fertility preservation, significant gaps exist between knowledge and practice. Education level, healthcare occupation and perceived benefits strongly influence protective behaviours. These findings suggest the interventions should not only enhance health education but also address structural obstacles, such as cost and accessibility, to bridge the gap between knowledge and action.
Keywords: Fertility Preservation, health belief model, Reproductive Health, Women's Health, Health behaviour, Cross-sectional study
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, An, Hua, Wei and Shu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fanglian Shu, The People’s Hospital of Suzhou New District, Suzhou, China
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