The Effect of Fertility Health Awareness Strategies on Fertility Knowledge and Childbearing in Young Married Couples (FertStart)

April 11, 2025 updated by: Singapore General Hospital

The Effect of Fertility Health Awareness Strategies on Fertility Knowledge and Childbearing in Young Married Couples (FertStart)

Singapore, like many developed countries, is experiencing low birth rates, which is coupled with increasing age at first marriage and birth. In addition, demand for assisted reproduction technology treatments has increased over the years. Fertility awareness surveys have consistently shown that public awareness of age-related fertility decline and the limitations of fertility treatments is generally low, and this may lead to couples not optimising their fertility potential to achieve their family aspirations. This trial aims to study the effect of fertility health screening and fertility awareness tools on knowledge, attitudes and practice around childbearing among young Singaporean married couples.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

841

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Singapore
      • Singapore, Singapore, 229899
        • KK Women's and Children's Hospital
      • Singapore, Singapore, 169608
        • Singapore General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 30 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Married couple
  • Both partners should be Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents
  • Female partner is 25 - 34 years old at time of recruitment
  • Both partners agreeable and able to complete study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Already have children, including from previous marriages
  • Pregnant
  • Currently undergoing or had previously went for any fertility evaluation and/or treatments
  • Self-reported history of previous ectopic pregnancy in the female partner
  • At least 1 partner unable to complete a self-administered questionnaire in English

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
No intervention
Active Comparator: Fertility Health Screening
Clinic-based fertility health screening and counselling
Diagnostic test: Fertility Health Screening
Basic fertility health screening comprising an anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test and semen analysis, a doctor's consultation to explain the results, and standardised reproductive counselling by a trained nurse comprising a discussion of reproductive plans (including addressing barriers the couple face), education on age-related fertility decline and limitations of artificial reproductive technologies, advice on the optimal reproductive timing and when to seek further help. An educational brochure will be handed to the couple during the counselling session.
Active Comparator: Fertility Awareness Tools
Online intervention to provide fertility education and behavioural nudge for optimal reproductive timing.
Behavioral: Fertility Awareness Tools
Online intervention consisting of 1) video targeting fertility education and specific attitudes, social norms and perceived control for having children, 2) a fertility awareness tool (FERTISTAT) and 3) an educational brochure on fertility. This intervention can be self-administered and is therefore easily scalable.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in parenthood intentions
Time Frame: Baseline (before intervention) and 6 months later
The difference in the female partner's intended age at first birth at 6 months post-randomization compared to baseline, elicited by a direct question in pre and post-questionnaires.
Baseline (before intervention) and 6 months later

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in fertility awareness
Time Frame: Baseline (before intervention) and 6 months later
The difference in fertility awareness as measured by the Cardiff Fertility Knowledge Scale (CFKS) at 6 months post-randomization compared to baseline. The CFKS is a 13-item scale where each correct answer is assigned 1 point. Points are summed and converted to the % correct fertility knowledge score with a range of 0 - 100%.
Baseline (before intervention) and 6 months later
Conception efforts
Time Frame: 6 moths post-randomization
Proportion of couples who are (a) attempting to conceive, (b) pregnant, (c) who pursued more comprehensive fertility screening and/or (d) who pursued fertility treatment.
6 moths post-randomization
Birth number
Time Frame: 2 and 3 years post-randomization
Number of births
2 and 3 years post-randomization
Birth timing
Time Frame: 2 and 3 years post-randomization
Time to first birth
2 and 3 years post-randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Singapore General Hospital

Collaborators

Cardiff University
KK Women's and Children's Hospital
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Singapore Health Services
National Population and Talent Division

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 21, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 15, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

March 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 16, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

November 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 16, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 11, 2025

Last Verified

April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 7.0

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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