The Importance of Fertility Awareness for Womenʼs Health Among Girls in Their Final Year of School

Abstract

The article deals with the importance of fertility awareness for women’s health. It is commonly believed that fertility awareness knowledge is applied to family planning, but fertility awareness helps women and girls become informed participants in their health care. Research shows that women and girls who monitor their ovulation cycles can detect health problems early. This article presents research showing that adolescents who learn about their own body’s physiological processes, learn to recognise their fertility in sexuality education programmes, have a greater appreciation of their own and their age group’s sexuality and the ability to express emotions. The authors also present a study “Awareness of fertility in Kaunas city general education school leavers”, in which interviewed female graduates of five secondary schools in Kaunas. The study revealed that more than half of the participants had poor knowledge of fertility awareness and less than half had only fair knowledge. Girls do not know that a woman’s fertility depends on neurohormonal regulation. Girls have incorrect knowledge of the mechanism of action of hormonal contraception. A higher proportion of girls do not know that human life begins at conception. Respondents do not have sufficient knowledge of the factors that impair a woman’s fertility. The results of the survey on girls’ knowledge suggest that there is insufficient attention paid in schools to the knowledge of female fertility and its preservation. Girls are guided by knowledge found on the Internet. It can therefore be assumed that this provides a good possibility for manipulation by anti-life campaigns and severely restricts women’s free and informed choices.