Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Women and Men Towards Infertility: A Scoping Review

Infertility is a serious concern with emotional and medical implications, affecting millions of couples worldwide. Despite its prevalence, there are still misconceptions and a lack of knowledge and awareness surrounding infertility.

The objective of this review is to synthesize the existing literature on knowledge, attitudes, and practices of men and women towards infertility.

The scoping literature review followed the Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, which included formulating the research question, locating relevant studies, selecting studies, charting data, and synthesizing the results. The databases used were MEDLINE, Africa-Wide Information, Academic Search Complete, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, CINAHL, APA PsycInfo and Google Scholar. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyse the findings of this review.

Twelve studies were included in this scoping review. The analysis of these studies produced six themes: women’s concerns regarding infertility, lack of knowledge and awareness regarding infertility, different types of educational information on reproductive health, attitudes towards infertility, practices related to infertility and gender-based treatment, responsibilities, and consequences of infertility.

The review revealed that men and women consulting in healthcare facilities reported several misunderstandings and information gaps regarding infertility. Regarding attitude, the review found that most men and women demonstrate a positive attitude towards infertility as a disease and regarding the use of fertility drugs for conception. Furthermore, the review found that most men were willing to adopt necessary lifestyle and health practices to enhance or improve their fertility. The use of alternative therapy was also a prominent healthcare option amongst most men and women. Lastly, infertility has been known to cause marriages into divorce or polygamy.

The results highlight the need for better healthcare to properly treat infertility. Furthermore, the review identified the need for education programs to address the stigma and misconceptions associated with infertility.