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The Belgian fertility rate has been declining, while the mean age of women having children is increasing. This delay in parenthood has several consequences, such as male and female age-related fertility decline. Earlier research has indicated that individuals often overestimate their fertility potential and that there are several misconceptions about fertility among the population. These factors could contribute in not achieving the desired number of children. So far, research in Belgium has only focused on specific populations like secondary school pupils and medical students. We conducted a cross sectional survey study using a convenience sampling. Non-pregnant individuals of reproductive age without children were invited to answer a self-reported questionnaire. First, a pilot study was conducted with participants who met the inclusion criteria to screen for any difficulties or misconceptions in the questionnaire. The sample size was calculated based on the number of individuals and the distribution of men and women in the target population. Data collection was carried out from November 2023 until February 2024. The target population consisted of non-pregnant reproductive-aged individuals (18-45 years) residing in Belgium and without children Participants were recruited online and through public advertisement. A structured questionnaire which consisted of four parts was used to measure:socio-demographic characteristics,fertility knowledge by means of the Cardiff Fertility Knowledge scale,reproductive intentions through the taxonomy developed by Grace et al. (2022) and sources of fertility information. The study sample consisted of 2092 participants. The majority of participants were highly educated women that were born in Belgium. The mean age of the participants was 26 years. The majority of participants corresponded with the group of desirers (58.8%), followed by the flexers (27.9%) and at last the avoiders (12.6%). The mean number of children the participants wanted was two, at a mean age of 30 years for the first child. On average, participants answered 7 out of 13 knowledge questions correctly (SD 2; IQR 6-9) with women scoring significantly higher than men (mean difference 0.51; p < 0.001) and desirers scoring significantly higher than avoiders and flexers (p < 0.001). The most used sources of fertility information were the internet, friends and family. This study was a non-probabilistic, convenience sampling and therefore the results should be interpreted with caution. Risk of bias was limited by, among other things, a large sample. The findings of our study suggest that there is a need for tailored fertility campaigns to reach specific groups in the society. The Belgian Fertility Education Initiative (BFEI) can be an important partner in achieving this recommendation. Secondly, fertility education programs should be integrated more in primary and secondary schools. Besides, fertility information given to patients should be adapted based on their parenthood intentions. The reproductive life plan can be a useful tool. At last, health care providers should actively ask about the use of internet and recommend evidence based websites.
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