Limited patient knowledge as a reproductive risk factor.

A study was designed to obtain information on the concerns, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge that women have about reproduction in order to determine how these factors affect their ability to plan pregnancies. A clinical population was studied and in general found to be uninformed and misinformed about basic physiological facts relating to reproduction. Their lack of information or their misinformation about the menstrual cycle, safe time for intercourse, and contraception contributed to unwated pregnancies. They did not know enough to prevent pregnancy. The patients were aware of some deficits in their knowledge about reproduction and expressed a desire to learn more. This study suggests that individualized education may be necessary to break the pattern of unwanted pregnancies and the feelings of apathy and fatalism so common among low-income patients.