A qualitative study of Australian adolescent perceptions of fertility and infertility

Abstract

Adolescents require a specific set of fertility information and services to promote reproductive health and wellbeing extending into adulthood. Due to a common focus on preventing unplanned pregnancy in adolescents, fertility education can be perceived as antithetical. This study explores awareness and attitudes about fertility in adolescents to guide relevant inclusion of fertility in future information and service delivery. Twenty-five adolescents aged 15 to 18 years who had attended secondary schooling in Australia were recruited to participate in nine focus groups. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed three themes (with seven sub-themes) in the transcripts. The importance of fertility education, stigma associated with infertility, and gender roles in the context of reproductive health were identified as being key themes. Broadly, awareness of infertility was seen as important, to navigate potential health consequences and to emotionally support stigmatised people experiencing infertility. This is the first qualitative study about perspectives of fertility and infertility in adolescents aged 18 and under in an Australian context. We make recommendations for developing age-appropriate fertility education, regarding the incorporation of appropriate frameworks in adolescent education to enhance discussions around sex and gender in fertility to align with contemporary preferences.