| Abstract: | Many vital embryonic changes occur very early in pregnancy, sometimes before a woman realizes that she is pregnant. Accordingly, promoting healthy behaviors in individuals of reproductive age during the period before they conceive is a viable way to promote healthy pregnancies. The Reproductive Health Program in Ontario recognizes that healthy birth outcomes are related to a broad range of factors both before conception and during pregnancy and thus promotes community-wide health strategies intended to increase the practice of behaviors conducive to healthy pregnancy in the target population. Lifestyle, fertility awareness, environmental hazards, family background and relationships, and medical history should all be addressed before pregnancy. Educating the public on preconception health issues can be done through educational series held within schools, the community, and the workplace; large-scale events such as bridal showers; premarital workshops; displays in public settings such as shopping malls; and advertisements in buses, public washrooms, newsletters, and local newspapers. Both adolescents and adults, however, need to be reached. A board game for use in a school setting or in the community at large has therefore been developed in the Waterloo Region of Canada to teach youths about the ramifications of what they are doing now on their ability to bear children in the future. The game, Your Fertile Future, is divided into three sections each reflecting a different concern in the development of a typical adolescent. Healthy eating habits, physical fitness, self-image, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, relationship pressures, environmental hazards, and the readiness to be a parent are among issues discussed in sections on schooling, dating, and commitment. |
