PERCIEVED CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND PREVENTION OF INFERTILITY AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN UTURU COMMUNITY ABIA STATE

The present study was examined perceived causes, consequences and prevention of infertility among married women in Uturu community, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used for the study. A sample size of 80 respondents completed the study. Non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to select respondents for the study. A researcher developed questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Descriptive statistic was used for data analysis.. Results found that respondents perceived that the causes of infertility were having multiple sexual partners (95%), alcohol and cigarette abuse (94%), and spiritual witchcraft (90%), among others. The respondents perceived that the consequences of infertility were feelings of hopelessness (80%), social isolation (73.8%), and feeling unhappy (70%), among others. The respondents perceived that the viable ways to preventing infertility were through visiting religious faith healers (77.5%), getting pregnant before 25 years old (73.8%), and use of herbal mixtures (65.0%), among others. The researcher recommends that Nurse professional should develop ingenious ways of debunking tenaciously held public misconceptions about infertility.