Fertility awareness constitutes fundamental knowledge for every woman and is an important tool for health professionals. The objective of this review is to show how fertility awareness can be useful in the assessment of a woman's health. The main techniques for detecting ovulation are explained, and then the events that characterize a normal menstrual cycle are discussed. The relevance of cervical mucus from the perspective of female fertility is highlighted. Finally, the usefulness of fertility awareness 1) to identify fertile and infertile periods, 2) to help to detect several pathologies, and 3) in regards to how it exerts an important role in the success of programs in education for affectivity and sexuality are discussed.
fertility awareness women's health assessment, menstrual cycle health indicator, vital sign menstrual cycle, fertility awareness screening tool, reproductive health biomarkers, cervical mucus health assessment, menstrual cycle monitoring clinical, FABM health benefits, fertility charting diagnostic use, ovarian function assessment
PMID 30082987 30082987 DOI 10.1179/002436312804827109 10.1179/002436312804827109
Cite this article
Vigil, P., Blackwell, L. F., & Cortés, M. E. (2012). The Importance of Fertility Awareness in the Assessment of a Woman's Health a Review. The Linacre Quarterly, 79(4), 426-450. https://doi.org/10.1179/002436312804827109
Vigil P, Blackwell LF, Cortés ME. The Importance of Fertility Awareness in the Assessment of a Woman's Health a Review. Linacre Q. 2012;79(4):426-450. doi:10.1179/002436312804827109
Vigil, P., et al. "The Importance of Fertility Awareness in the Assessment of a Woman's Health a Review." The Linacre Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 4, 2012, pp. 426-450.
This pilot qualitative case study was able to elicit rich data enabling a description of how women went through the journey of achieving pregnancy using fertility awareness-based methods. Findings underscore that women preferred using natural ways to detect ovulation and would recommend other women to do so, but with healthcare providers' guidance. The findings of this case study can serve as a starting point to provide a framework to understand women's experiences of enduring trial and error with multiple fertility awareness-based methods before discovering their effective method. Findings emphasize the importance for healthcare providers to guide women in using fertility awareness-based methods.
Natural family planning (NFP) empowers women to control their reproductive health and approach fertility as a normal biological process. Although substantive literature supports their comparative effectiveness with contraceptive methods, there is a paucity of this knowledge amongst clinicians and users. This study aimed to understand clinicians' perceptions regarding offering NFP to patients as part of reproductive health care. It explored clinicians' knowledge of NFP, described their perceptions of their effectiveness, and identified enabling and deterring factors to their use. Basic Interpretive qualitative research design was appropriate in obtaining an in-depth description of this phenomenon. It was conducted in 2018 in two hospitals and clinics in Ekurhuleni health district, located East of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Fifteen doctors and nurses from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds were purposefully selected and interviewed. Transcribed data were analyzed, coded, and recurrent themes identified. Training that empowers clinicians on NFP methods and their effectiveness will improve their willingness to advocate for it and promote patient autonomy by providing comprehensive counseling on family planning methods. Further, a pro-NFP policy would drive training in undergraduate and postgraduate programs and increase public awareness, including early education of male and female children.
This study explores differences in the use of CycleProGo™ (CPG), a fertility-tracking app developed by Couple to Couple League (CCL), between those exposed to it as a part of natural family planning (NFP) instruction versus those who find it on their own. An anonymous data set of 17,543 CPG accounts opened between April 2013 and June 2016 was used for analysis. Nonmember users opened the most accounts (58 percent, n = 10,134), CCL members represented 38 percent (n = 6,758) of new accounts, and 207 CCL teachers (4 percent) were using CPG for personal charting. Significantly more nonmember accounts had zero days of use after the initial opening compared to CCL member accounts (61 percent vs. 23 percent, respectively, χ(2) = 2,405.9, p < .001). Conversely, significantly more CCL member accounts were used for ninety days or longer than nonmember accounts (47 percent vs. 13 percent, respectively, χ(2) = 2,404.2, p < .001). CCL students-those who began using the app as part of a formal NFP teaching curriculum-were more likely to use the app for > six cycles compared to nonmembers. In accounts with at least one complete cycle, CCL students were the most diligent at daily recording (95 percent of cycle days with observation recorded) followed by CCL members (88 percent) and nonmembers (76 percent). CCL teachers had the lowest frequency of cycle days with a recorded observation (73 percent). Within each cohort, accounts with > six recorded cycles had a lower proportion of cycle days with an observation recorded, likely reflecting increasing knowledge of their personal fertility patterns. Long-term users who had no known formal training in NFP still had the lowest proportion cycle days with a fertility observation. We conclude formal NFP instruction increases the probability of long-term app use, and regardless of training, long-term users will likely record observations on about 70 percent of cycle days.
"CycleProGo™ users with NFP training were more persistent and diligent about daily data input than those without training."
By encouraging doctors and scientists to improve the regulation of births through the observation of natural fertility rhythms, Humanae vitae promoted the development of natural family planning (NFP). The study of NFP has lead to NFP-based methodologies in reproductive healthcare that are promoting advances in treatment of infertility, miscarriage, and a number of reproductive health disorders. In contrast, the contraceptive mentality has stunted the development of reproductive healthcare. Humanae vitae has provided a great gift to science and reproductive healthcare that all Catholics should be proud of.