Impact of fertility policy adjustment on fertility intention among married female medical staff

Objective To explore the impact of fertility policy adjustment on fertility intention and its associated factors in married female medical personnel.

Methods Using random sampling, we conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey and a focus interview among 258 and 20 married female staff in medical institutions of various administrative levels in Liaoning province and Beijing city between May and July 2017.

Results Of all the participants of the questionnaire survey, 45.3% (117), 27.5% (71), and 27.1% (70) reported the unwillingness, uncertain willingness, and the willingness to have two children, with a significant difference in the proportion (P < 0.01). The ratio of reporting the willingness to have two children was the highest (37.8%) and the lowest (14.5%) among those younger than 30 years and elder than 40 years. The willingness to have a second child was not significantly different by the sex of the first child among the participants; while 48.1% of the participants believed that the quality of life would decline after giving the birth to the second child. The first three main influencing factors for the willingness to have two children were whether having someone to take care of children, family economic status, and working condition among the participants.

Conclusion The proportion of having the willingness to have two children is low and influenced mainly by whether having someone to take care of children, family economic status, and working condition among married female staff in medical institutions.