Mid Sweden University

Background: Preconception health is an important topic as it may influence pregnancy outcome and future maternal- and child health. Preconception health includes fertility knowledge and is about becoming and staying healthy. Aim: To investigate women´s knowledge about what reduces the ability to become pregnant, among women seeking contraceptive counselling in a Swedish region. Method: This was a sub study nested in a randomized controlled trail (2015-2016), among women (n=1946) seeking contraceptive counselling. Data for the current study was collected at baseline (2015). The questionnaire contained 41 questions including the women’s background characteristics. One question was open-ended ´What reduces the ability to become pregnant ‘, which was the aim to analyse in the current study. Qualitative manifest content analysis was used combined with quantitative parametric tests to identify differences between groups based on the women´s background characteristics. Result: Seven different categories were identified as potential factors that could reduce the ability to become pregnant. The most reported category was lifestyle factors, including tobacco use, alcohol consumption, body weight, eating habits and physical activity habits (n=140; 73.8%), followed by sociopsychological factors (n=570; 30%). Age as a factor was less mentioned, but more commonly reported by women in age group 20-24. Relevant factors that can impair the ability to conceive was more reported by women with higher education, women in the Nordic countries, and among those who had given birth. Conclusion: Fertility knowledge seem to be diverse among women seeking contraceptive counselling, emphasizing a need for interventions to increase fertility knowledge, however, adapted to needs in different societal groups.