Today we got together for our second meeting. We’ve already accomplished a significant amount in a short period of time – we decided on an official name for our group, we submitted approval to become a registered student organization at UTSW and we sent a survey to the thousands of students at UTSW to see what they had to say about the topic.
The survey results were enlightening and we think they really give this group meaning and purpose. We got over 149 responses. The statistics were interesting – only 63% of medical and allied health students thought fertility awareness methods were scientifically based, and 29% said that these methods COULD be used for a woman with an irregular cycle. We thought these results were the most compelling, however: out of 149 students, only 94 had heard of specific fertility awareness methods. Out of those 94, only 20 students had heard about fertility awareness methods as part of the UTSW medical or allied health school curriculum! We already suspected there was a gap in medical education concerning these methods, but even we underestimated it.
As we go forward, we’re looking forward to developing a plan for fundraising and deciding how to get the information out to the students and eventually the community. We have big plans ahead!
The survey results were enlightening and we think they really give this group meaning and purpose. We got over 149 responses. The statistics were interesting – only 63% of medical and allied health students thought fertility awareness methods were scientifically based, and 29% said that these methods COULD be used for a woman with an irregular cycle. We thought these results were the most compelling, however: out of 149 students, only 94 had heard of specific fertility awareness methods. Out of those 94, only 20 students had heard about fertility awareness methods as part of the UTSW medical or allied health school curriculum! We already suspected there was a gap in medical education concerning these methods, but even we underestimated it.
As we go forward, we’re looking forward to developing a plan for fundraising and deciding how to get the information out to the students and eventually the community. We have big plans ahead!