Table 3.

Main characteristics of the studies included in the present systematic review

Author, year	Purpose of the study	Study population, country	Total sample size	Men sample size	Type of study	Sampling method	Main results
Shaw, 2019[14]	Examine men’s knowledge and health behaviors before fatherhood	Men attending antenatal care with their partners/England (London)	573	573	Cross-sectional	Convenience sampling	19% of 565 men (n=108) said that they sought advice from a GP or health care professional about getting pregnant. A small percentage of respondents (2.3%, n=6) said that their GPs or health professionals gave them preconception health advice. In 24.5% of the cases (n=63), GPs or health professionals offered advice to both themselves and their partners. Only 21% of respondents (n=54) reported receiving information for their partner alone.
Mitchell, 2012[15]	Assessing men’s and women’s awareness of PCH exposure and knowledge of specific PCH behaviors	Women (18-44 yr) , Men (18-64yr)/united states	2736	1796	Healthstyle survey	Stratified random sampling	More than half of men (52%) were not aware of any exposure to PCH messages. Men perceived the most significant PCH behaviors for women, including avoiding cigarettes, illegal drugs, and alcohol use.
Temel, 2015[16]	Examine knowledge of preconception folic acid supplementation	Men and women aged between 16 and 85 years/Rotterdam, the Netherlands	3500	1575	Cross-sectional	Random sample	The correct answers to the preconception FA questions were 26% in men.
Frey, 2012[17]	To assess men’s knowledge level and beliefs about preconception healthcare.	Men aged between 16 and 45 years/united states (Arizona)	132	132	Survey study	Consecutive male patients presenting to primary care	Nearly all men in the study (93.2%) understood the importance of optimizing the mother’s health before pregnancy, but they showed a significant lack of knowledge about the factors that may threaten their health or the health of their fetuses.
Al-Akour, 2015[18]	Assess awareness of preconception care among Jordanian married women and men	Women and men who were married and aged >18 years/Jordan	763	226	Cross-sectional	Systematic random sampling (proportionate to size’)	Almost 50% of the men were aware that both the man’s and the woman’s family health history can affect their children’s health. More than 58% of men were aware that a woman’s health before pregnancy can have a serious impact on the health of her child, while 32.7% were aware that a man’s health can negatively affect the health of his child.
Ishak, 2021[19]	Assess the level of prepregnancy care knowledge among men	Married men aged more than 18 years old and less than 65 years old/Malaysia	235	235	Cross-sectional	Convenience Sampling.	Out of the respondents, 122 (51.9%) had poor knowledge of prepregnancy care, and 113 (48.1%) had a good knowledge of prepregnancy care.
Hammarberg, 2013[20]	To determine the knowledge of the effects of age, obesity, smoking, and timing of intercourse on fertility among Australians reproductive age	Men and women aged 18-45 years/Australia	462	209	Telephone survey	random sampling	About 20% of men realize that a woman’s fertility starts to decline before age 35. Approximately 52% of men stated that female fertility begins to decline after the age of 40, that age doesn’t matter, or that they don’t know. Only 36% of men are aware that a man’s fertility begins to decline at age 45. Overall, 58% of men indicated that male fertility declines after 50, “‘Age does not matter,”’ or “‘Don’t know.”
Hammarberg, 2017[24]	Explore fertility knowledge and information-seeking behaviors in people of reproductive age	Women and men aged 20-45 years, who were planning to have children in the future, or actively trying to conceive at the time of the research/Australia	74	31	Qualitative study/thematic analysis	Sampling with maximum diversity	Men generally reported “low” to “average” knowledge about fertility. Most of them overestimated women’s reproductive lifespans and had limited knowledge of the “fertile window” of the menstrual cycle.
Hviid Malling, 2020[22]	Explore young childless Danish and Swedish men’s perspectives on fertility and infertility.	Young childless men aged between 20 and 30 years/Denmark and Sweden	29	29	Qualitative content analysis	Snow-ball methods	The young men had limited knowledge about factors that can impair male and female fertility.
Poels, 2017[23]	Assess how PCC should be provided from the perspective of parents.	Couples who received antenatal care at a Dutch community midwifery practice/Netherlands	34	5	Thematic analysis	Purpose-based	Men were generally unaware of preconception care.
McGowan, 2020[21]	Explore beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes on preconception health amongst adults of reproductive age	Females and males of childbearing age (aged 18-45 years)/UK	21	8	Descriptive qualitative	Purpose-based	Lack of comprehensive knowledge about preconception health