Karin Hammarberg

Karin Hammarberg
Monash University (Australia) · School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

RN BSc PhD

About

202
Publications
44,850
Reads
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6,369
Citations
Additional affiliations
October 2011 - present
Monash University (Australia)
Position
  • Senior Researcher

Publications

Publications (202)
Article
Full-text available
Women from Syria and Iraq constitute two of the largest groups of humanitarian visa entrants to Australia in the past 10 years. Barriers to and enablers of preventive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for these women are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to establish the preventive SRH care needs and experiences of women from refugee...
Article
Reproductive travel for gamete donation is becoming increasingly common. South Africa is renowned for its availability and relative affordability of high-quality assisted reproductive technology (ART) services. In South Africa (SA) gamete donation is anonymous by law and donors are compensated. Due to its significant availability of donors, SA is a...
Article
Background Many refugee women and women seeking asylum arrive in high-income countries with unmet preventive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care needs. Primary healthcare providers (HCPs) are usually refugee and asylum seekers’ first point of care. This study aimed to identify HCP characteristics associated with initiating conversations and d...
Article
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Introduction Older adults can face challenges when seeking care from emergency departments (EDs) due to presenting with multiple comorbidities and non-specific symptoms. Psychosocial care is a possible target to help improve ED care for this population. It is possible that digital health technologies can be implemented within emergency settings to...
Article
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STUDY QUESTION What is the impact of co-designed, evidence-based information regarding the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test on women’s interest in having the test? SUMMARY ANSWER Women who viewed the evidence-based information about the AMH test had lower interest in having an AMH test than women who viewed information produced by an online compa...
Article
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Linked article: This is a mini commentary on Talbot et al., pp. 1747–1759 in this issue. To view this article visit https://doi.org/10.1111/1471‐0528.17892.
Conference Paper
Introduction Online informaGon about AMH tesGng oIen has unfounded claims about its ability to predict ferGlity and concepGon, and evidence suggests women seek out and are recommended the AMH test as a measure of their ferGlity potenGal. This study aimed to co-design evidence-based informaGon about the AMH test and examine its impact on women’s int...
Article
While altruistic surrogacy arrangements are permitted in Australia, commercial ones are not. Regardless of this, most intended parents undertake commercial arrangements by bypassing domestic laws and engaging with foreign surrogates. Considering the welfare risks and ethical concerns associated with international surrogacy, developing a more access...
Article
Most people want children, but many do not achieve their parenthood goals. Research shows that both men and women have limited knowledge about fertility and the factors that affect it. This includes poor knowledge about the impact of age, the most important determinant of the chance to conceive and have a healthy baby. As age at first birth is incr...
Preprint
BACKGROUND Good preconception health reduces the incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality for women their babies and future generations. In Australia there is a need to increase health literacy and awareness about the importance of good preconception health. Digital health tools are a possible enabler to increase this awareness at a populat...
Article
Background Good preconception health reduces the incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality for women, their babies, and future generations. In Australia, there is a need to increase health literacy and awareness about the importance of good preconception health. Digital health tools are a possible enabler to increase this awareness at a popu...
Article
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STUDY QUESTION Does a purpose-designed Decision Aid for women considering elective egg freezing (EEF) impact decisional conflict and other decision-related outcomes? SUMMARY ANSWER The Decision Aid reduces decisional conflict, prepares women for decision-making, and does not cause distress. WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN Elective egg-freezing decisions ar...
Article
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Across sub-Saharan Africa, there remains disagreement among local expert providers over the best ways to improve access to assisted reproduction in low-income contexts. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted between 2021 and 2023 with 19 fertility specialists and 11 embryologists and one clinic manager from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Na...
Preprint
BACKGROUND Health and health behaviours in midlife are important determinants of healthy ageing. There is evidence of unmet needs for health promoting information for women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women with low literacy. OBJECTIVE The aims were to develop accessible short, animated videos promoting positive heal...
Article
Background Health and health behaviors in midlife are important determinants of healthy aging. There is evidence of unmet needs for health-promoting information for women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women with low literacy. Objective This study aimed to (1) develop accessible short, animated videos viewable and downl...
Article
Issue addressed: Women from refugee backgrounds have poorer health outcomes than host country populations. People from Myanmar, most of whom are from the Karen ethnic minority constitute one of the largest groups of humanitarian visa entrants to Australia since 2015. Barriers to and enablers of preventive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for t...
Article
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Background Older people experiencing depression and anxiety have higher rates of health service utilisation than others, but little is known about whether these influence their seeking of emergency care. The aim was to examine the associations between symptoms of depression and the use of emergency health care, in an Australian context, among a pop...
Article
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The ability to access, understand, judge, and use health information is crucial for making informed decisions about health and optimal health outcomes. This secondary data analysis investigated associations between social determinants of health and Australian women’s ability to access and understand health information using data from 10,652 women w...
Article
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The internet is the primary source of infertility-related information for most people who are experiencing fertility issues. Although no longer shrouded in stigma, the privacy of interacting only with a computer provides a sense of safety when engaging with sensitive content and allows for diverse and geographically dispersed communities to connect...
Article
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Objective To describe clinicians' attitudes, knowledge and practice relating to the anti‐müllerian hormone (AMH) test. Design Cross‐sectional nationwide survey. Setting Australia. Population or Sample A total of 362 general practitioners (GPs), gynaecologists and reproductive specialists. Methods Clinicians were recruited through relevant profe...
Article
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Many recent societal trends have led to the need for fertility education, including the age at which individuals become parents, the development of new reproductive technologies, and family diversity. Fertility awareness has emerged as a concept very recently and is increasingly gaining recognition. However, fertility education is often neglected a...
Article
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STUDY QUESTION How well informed are Australian women who undergo IVF about their chances of having a baby? SUMMARY ANSWER Only one in four women estimated their individual chance of success with IVF accurately, with most women overestimating their chance. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Limited knowledge about infertility and infertility treatment in the...
Article
Markets for international surrogacy often arise in jurisdictions with limited regulations regarding assisted reproductive technologies. In some countries, like Australia, regulated domestic surrogacy services are often sidestepped for international providers. This study describes how Australian intended parents decide where to pursue surrogacy and...
Article
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Refugees and asylum seekers may experience challenges related to pre-arrival experiences, structural disadvantage after migration and during resettlement requiring the need for special protection when participating in research. The aim was to review if and how people with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds have had their need for special protect...
Article
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Almost half of infertility cases involve male infertility. Understanding the consequence of a diagnosis of male infertility, as a sole or partial contributor to the couples’ infertility, to the mental health of men is required to ensure clinical care meets their psychological needs. The aim of this systematic analysis was to synthesize the evidence...
Article
Importance: The recent provision of direct-to-consumer (DTC) Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) testing in several countries has been contentious, particularly due to concerns about judicious testing and informed consent. Objective: To describe and analyze information on websites that sell DTC AMH tests. Design, setting, and participants: Qualitativ...
Article
Study question What is the quality of information provided by ChatGPT when using common patient questions as prompts? Summary answer Overall, the quality of the information generated by ChatGPT was high with little evidence of commercial bias. What is known already People seeking fertility-related information rely on internet sources when decidin...
Article
Study question What are the clinical characteristics and medical outcomes of cross-border surrogacy (CBS) arrangements? Summary answer CBS practices commonly involve anonymously donated oocytes and multiple embryo transfers which can adversely impact the psychological and physical welfare of the children born. What is known already Intended paren...
Article
Study question Does a Decision-Aid for those considering elective egg-freezing impact decisional conflict, the decision-making process, and quality of the decision made, compared to existing information? Summary answer The Decision-Aid significantly reduced decisional conflict and improved preparedness for decision-making. What is known already E...
Article
Full-text available
Study question: What is the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test usage, awareness, and perceived reasons for testing in a representative community sample of women in Australia? Summary answer: : Among women aged 18-55 years, 13% had heard about AMH testing and 7% had had an AMH test, with the top three reasons for testing including due to infertili...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Elective egg freezing decisions are complex. We developed a Decision Aid for elective egg freezing and conducted a phase 1 study to evaluate its acceptability and utility for decision-making. Methods: The online Decision Aid was developed according to International Patient Decision Aid Standards and evaluated using a pre/post survey...
Article
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Purpose Identifying the information and decision support needs of women interested in receiving planned oocyte cryopreservation (POC) information. Methods An online survey of Australian women, aged 18-45, interested in receiving POC information, proficient in English, with internet access. The survey covered POC information sources, information de...
Article
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While education about fertility is not intrinsically controversial, finding the right language to communicate the topic can be challenging, as there are several risks of unintended negative effects such as dissonance, anxiety, culpability and stigma due to social norming. In this commentary, we share some of our learnings from promoting fertility a...
Article
Recognition that structural factors influence participation decisions and have potential to coerce participation, emerged relatively recently in research ethics literature. Empirical evidence to elucidate the nature of “structural” coercion and influence is needed to optimise respect for autonomy through voluntary informed consent. We present findi...
Article
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The global under-supply of sperm and oocyte donors is a serious concern for assisted reproductive medicine. Research has explored self-selected populations of gamete donors and their ex-post rationalisations of why they chose to donate. However, such studies may not provide the necessary insight into why the majority of people do not donate. Utilis...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Background: Surrogacy arrangements can be conducted domestically, where the surrogate and intended parents live in the same country, or internationally, where the intended parents engage a surrogate in a foreign destination. Understanding the experiences of people participating in surrogacy arrangements can inform policy to protect the best interes...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test is promoted to women as a way to find out how long they have left to have children. However, data consistently show the test is a poor predictor of natural fertility potential for an individual woman. As fertility clinic websites are often a primary source of information for reproductive information...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Endometrial scratching is a common IVF add-on. In 2015, a survey in Australia, New Zealand and the UK reported that 83% of fertility specialists recommended endometrial scratching for IVF ( ¹ ). Several large trials have since been published reporting no clear evidence for improved live birth rates following endometrial scratching befor...
Article
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Background: We have an established cohort of singleton adults conceived by IVF and GIFT born from January 1982 to December 1992, and matched controls conceived without assisted reproduction (non-ART). They have participated in two previous studies: 1) a telephone interview study when aged 21 years on average and 2) a clinical review 6 years later....
Article
Full-text available
Life circumstances, including not having a partner, may prevent women from having children during their most fertile years. To avoid age-related infertility women who plan to have children at an age when their fertility is likely to have declined can freeze their eggs when they are younger and use them in an assisted reproductive technology (ART) p...
Article
Awareness Raising. The International Fertility Education Initiative Jacques de Mouzon, Joyce Harper, Karin Hammarberg, and the IFEI group Clearly, from the international reports on Assisted reproductive technology, more and more patients go to be treated by ART everywhere in the World, even in the richest countries where access is not limited by ec...
Article
Study question How well informed are Australian women who undergo In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) about their treatment and their chances of having a baby? Summary answer Only one in four women accurately estimated their individual chance of success with IVF and most women overestimated their chance. What is known already IVF is the cornerstone of i...
Article
Preconception health affects fertility, pregnancy, and future health outcomes but public awareness of this is low. Our aims were to rank priorities for preconception care (PCC), develop strategies to address these priorities, and establish values to guide future work in preconception healthcare in Australia. A Delphi technique involved two rounds o...
Conference Paper
Objectives The anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) test is a blood test indicating ovarian reserve (i.e. the number of eggs left in a woman’s ovaries). The test is helpful in assisted reproduction (indicates the potential number of oocytes retrieved for in vitro fertilisation or egg freezing). However, studies have found that the test cannot reliably pred...
Article
Full-text available
This review reports on surrogates’ and intended parents’ experiences of surrogacy arrangements. The findings from 47 studies, conducted across twelve countries and investigating predominately gestational surrogacy in a commercial setting, were analysed thematically and are reported in a narrative summary. The findings reveal that both parties’ expe...
Article
Preconception care (PCC) involves a wide-ranging set of interventions to optimize health prior to pregnancy. These interventions seek to enhance conception rates, pregnancy outcomes, childhood health, and the health of future generations. To assist health care providers to exercise high-quality clinical care in this domain, clinical practice guidel...
Article
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Objective To determine the epidemiology, clinical management, and outcomes of women with gestational breast cancer (GBC). Methods A population‐based prospective cohort study was conducted in Australia and New Zealand between 2013 and 2014 using the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System (AMOSS). Women who gave birth with a primary dia...
Article
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Background Preparing for pregnancy and being in the best possible health before conception improves reproductive outcomes. For women living with a chronic non-communicable disease (NCD), pregnancy planning is essential to allow optimal disease control in preparation for pregnancy. Aim The aim was to review the literature relating to the pregnancy...
Article
Numerous studies have investigated the physical health and development of children and adolescents conceived with assisted reproductive technology (ART). Less is known about the quality of life of ART-conceived adults. This study explores the contributions of being conceived with ART and psychosocial cofactors present in young adulthood to the qual...
Article
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Background Globally, the number of forcibly displaced women is growing. Refugee and displaced women have poorer health outcomes compared to migrant and host country populations. Conflict, persecution, violence or natural disasters and under-resourced health systems in their country of origin contribute to displacement experiences of refugee and dis...
Article
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Scholarly interest in reproductive travel has increased in recent years, but travel within, to and from the African continent has received much less attention. We reviewed the literature on cross-border reproductive travel to and from countries of sub-Saharan Africa in order to understand the local forms of this trade. Access to fertility care rema...
Article
Objective: To measure the accessibility of Australian web-based health information for midlife women including those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds or with low health literacy. Methods: Search terms relating to midlife health were entered into Google Australia to identify health information websites. The content of th...
Article
Endometrial scratching is a common IVF add-on. In 2015, a survey in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK) reported that 83% of fertility specialists recommended endometrial scratching for IVF. Several large trials have since been published reporting no clear evidence for improved live birth rates following endometrial scratching before...
Article
Preconception care (PCC) entails counselling and interventions to optimise health before pregnancy. Barriers to this service delivery include access and time. Primary healthcare nurses (PHCNs) are uniquely placed to deliver PCC. The aim of this study was to understand PHCNs' knowledge, practice and attitudes to PCC. A cross-sectional study was perf...
Article
Full-text available
Most women and men want and expect to have children. Parental age and some health behaviours affect fertility and the chance of conception. The aim of this study was to gauge people’s parenthood aspirations and knowledge about the factors that affect their chance of achieving them. Members of an Australian probability-based online panel aged 18–45...
Article
Optimal parental preconception health improves the likelihood of a successful pregnancy and a healthy child. Although primary healthcare professionals believe that it is within their role to promote preconception health to people of reproductive age, few do this routinely, in part because they lack knowledge on the topic and confidence to discuss i...
Article
Third-party disclosure by participants is inherent to much global health research. It presents ethical tensions with respecting the autonomy and privacy of non-consenting individuals whose data are disclosed but is neglected in ethics guidelines. Our aim was to describe and ethically reflect on, third party disclosure in a community-participatory d...
Article
Objective Most women and men want and expect to have children but increasing maternal and paternal ages reduce their ability to achieve this. Most research relating to childbearing has focused on women. The aim of this study was to explore reproductive-aged men’s fertility information-seeking attitudes and behaviours. Methods Focus group discussio...
Article
The aim of this study was to gauge the opinions of people in Australia about policies to help them recover from the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. An anonymous online survey of people aged 18 years and older in Australia was available from 1 July to 31 August 2020. It included 16 proposed policies which responden...
Conference Paper
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Study question How common is IVF add-on use in Australia, and what drives the use? Summary answer Most women (82%) had used one or more IVF add-ons and more than half (54%) first learned about the add-ons from their fertility specialist. What is known already IVF add-ons are procedures, techniques or medicines which may be considered nonessential...
Article
Background The COVID-19 pandemic, and the restrictions required to halt spread of the infection, are associated with increased population burden of moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. The aim was to quantify the mental health burden of the most severe COVID-19 related restrictions. Methods A natural experiment in which differenc...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives The anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test has been promoted as a way to inform women about their future fertility. However, data consistently show the test is a poor predictor of natural fertility potential for an individual woman. As fertility centre websites are often a primary source of information for reproductive information, it is esse...
Article
Standard Western demographic survey protocols fail to capture dynamics, such as circular migration and support networks, that profoundly influence the health of non-Western domestic social groups, typically called households. Enhanced protocols are needed because survey data provide the primary evidence base for health policy and planning globally....
Article
STUDY QUESTION What is the prevalence and pattern of IVF add-on use in Australia? SUMMARY ANSWER Among women having IVF in the last 3 years, 82% had used one or more IVF add-on, most commonly acupuncture, preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy and Chinese herbal medicine. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY IVF add-ons are procedures, techniques or med...
Article
This systematic review summarises the available evidence about how migrant women perceive and manage their menopausal and postmenopausal health and their experiences with healthcare services; and healthcare providers’ views about delivering menopause-related healthcare to migrant women. Medline, PsychInfo, Embase and Cinahl were searched for peer-r...
Article
Background: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) 'add-ons' are extra (non-essential) procedures, techniques or medicines, which usually claim to increase the chance of a successful IVF outcome. Use of IVF add-ons is believed to be widespread in many settings; however, information about add-on availability in Australasia is lacking. Aims: To understand w...
Article
While the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) are frequently used in mental health research, few studies have reported comprehensive data on these measures from population or community samples. The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were used as indicators of symptoms of depression and anxiety in a national online anonymous s...
Article
The demand for donated eggs outstrips supply in countries such as Australia where only altruistic egg donation is permitted. We conducted semi-structured interviews with women (n = 18), who had donated eggs in Australia in the last three years, to identify barriers and enablers for altruistic egg donation. Women reported difficulties in accessing t...
Article
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Objectives To identify sex and age differences in clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety and the factors associated with these differences among adults in Australia during COVID-19-related restrictions. Design Anonymous online survey. Setting Australia. Participants Adults aged over 18 years living in Australia were eligible a...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives To estimate the population prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety, thoughts of being better off dead, irritability, and high optimism about the future, and of direct experience of COVID‐19, loss of employment caused by COVID‐19 restrictions, worry about contracting COVID‐19, or major disadvantage...
Article
Background: We aimed to estimate the population prevalence of people with changes in their usual patterns of alcohol use during the early stages of the novel coronavirus pandemic of 2020 (COVID-19) pandemic in Australia; assess the association between mental health status and changes in alcohol use during the pandemic; and examine if the associati...
Article
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Objective: As a result of the coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Australia adopted emergency measures on 22 March 2020. This study reports the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on appetite and overeating in Australian adults during the first month of emergency measures. Design: This study reports analysis of data from population-based, se...
Article
Most previous studies about fertility knowledge and attitudes among men have been based on quantitative methods using questionnaires with fixed-choice response options. The aims of this qualitative study were to explore childless young men’s reflections on fertility and infertility through semi-structured interviews. Danish (n = 17) and Swedish (n...
Article
Understanding the likelihood of a live birth is important for fertility treatment planning, particularly when one cycle fails and further treatment may be contemplated. This study aims to estimate the chance of live birth among gestational surrogates undergoing altruistic surrogacy arrangements between 2009 and 2016 in Victoria, Australia. A total...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The number of women who undergo elective oocyte cryopreservation (EOC) in the hope of preserving their fertility is increasing. Fertility clinic websites often serve as the first point of contact for women contemplating EOC. There are no guidelines for Australian fertility clinics regarding how information about procedures should be pr...
Article
In high-income countries, parental age at first birth has increased and this postponement increases the risk of involuntary childlessness or having fewer children than desired. This interview study was conducted in Denmark and Sweden among childless men (n = 29) in their last year of an education. The aim was to explore the role of individual and s...
Article
Background: Increasing numbers of women ≥40 years old are accessing assisted reproductive technology (ART) due to age-related infertility. There is limited population-based evidence about the impact on the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) of women aged ≥40 years using their own oocytes, compared to women of a similar age, using donor oocytes. Ai...
Article
Objectives: Health literacy refers to an individual’s capacity to access, understand, evaluate and use health information to make well informed health-related decision to maintain and promote optimal health. Low health literacy is linked with worse health outcomes and is more common in people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and fr...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Optimal parental preconception health benefits reproductive outcomes. However, preconception health promotion is not routinely offered in primary health care settings to people of reproductive age. The aim was to gauge the planned preconception health behaviours and attitudes towards being asked about pregnancy intention by a general p...