The Awareness of Fertility Preservation Among Healthcare Professionals in Southern China
[Objective]This study aims to investigate the awareness and educational needs regarding fertility preservation(FP)among healthcare professionals in clinical departments of hospitals at various levels in Southern China.[Methods]An online questionnaire survey was conducted from November 1,2022,to April 1,2024,targeting healthcare professionals in clinical departments from various levels of hospitals in Southwest and South China,including those working at and trained in our hospital.A total of 398 questionnaires were collected.After excluding 14 invalid questionnaires,384 valid responses were analyzed.Data collected included region,gender,age,job title,years of work experience,educational background,awareness of FP and educational needs.An ordinal Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors influencing FP awareness among healthcare professionals.[Results]Among the 384 healthcare professionals surveyed,there were 256 physicians and 128 nurses.Approximately 98.96%of the respondents believed that FP is important for family and social health development.Among various FP methods,the awareness rate of egg freezing was the highest,with awareness rates of 98.44%for physicians and 99.22%for nurses.Peer communication was the primary source of FP knowledge for healthcare professionals,with 92.97%of physicians and 89.06%of nurses acquiring FP knowledge through peer communication.Univariate analysis indicated that educational background,department,and work location were significantly associated with FP awareness(P<0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that profession and department were key influencing factors(P<0.05).[Conclusion]With the promotion of FP in recent years,the awareness of FP among healthcare professionals has improved but remains insufficient.Although the awareness rate of FP among healthcare professionals in this survey is higher than that in previous studies,it is still only 78.13%,especially the wareness rate of ovarian tissue freezing technology is low,with the awareness rates of physicians and nurses being 69.53%and 53.13%,respectively.Appropriate educational strategies and directions should be adopted for different healthcare groups to further enhance their awareness of FP,thereby better serving patients in need.