This work deals with the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) process, of an infertile spouse who faces a proposal for Artificial Insemination with Donor (AID), in a cultural context where male infertility is still taboo and where this practice is not yet really anchored in manners. Indeed, research in clinical psychology does not sufficiently consider this aspect of the suffering in the couple. However, according to ethno-psychiatric theory, the therapeutic route of the African patient depends largely on cultural representations of his disease. This work aims to study the repercussions of the suffering of an infertile African spouse on his ART/AID process. This research was conducted with three infertile men ranging in age from 37 to 44; after experiencing the failure of the first ART attempt, they were called upon to undergo an AID protocol. Data were collected using semi-structured individual research interviews and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADs). These data were analyzed using content analysis technique. Thus, the suffering of the infertile spouse at this level can be justified by cultural constraints, the shame of the social gaze, the secrecy maintained by the culture on this practice. Sometimes, this spouse perceives his infertility as the consequence of villain-induced mystical persecution; which generates tensions between him and his spouse, his family and those close to him. Under the cultural pressure that demands a blood child, this ART/AID process is camouflaged by shame, doubt about the quality of the unborn child and even about the competence of the medical workers. The positive diagnosis of anxio-depressive syndrome in the participants after analysis of the HADs scores would also be justified by the absence of psychological care in the ART/AID process.
Ovarian stimulation, a hormonal treatment technique aimed at collecting several oocytes from women for artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, has not sufficiently interested researchers in the human and social sciences, particularly psychopathologists and clinicians. However, this technique, carried out in a prolonged way, induces psychological suffering in some women because of the considerable weight gain. Excess weight is not culturally allowed in women of certain African ethnic groups in the case of infertility. The aim of this article is to show that excess weight caused by hormonal treatment during medically assisted reproduction provokes an anxiety-depression syndrome which is explained on the one hand, by the non-acceptance of one's body image and on the other hand, by the secrecy of the ART in the infertile African woman. The data of this study were collected from the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and from the semi-directive interview; from 4 women aged between 30 and 37 years. The inclusion criteria set up were in favor of those who, after having received hormonal treatment (injections or tablets), had gained considerable weight and complained about their physiology. The content analysis technique in its formal variant led to the conclusion that anxiety-depressive disorders are observed in some obese African women following hormonal treatments in ART. These disorders are explained on the one hand by the self-depreciation reactivated by their infertility and on the other hand by the heavy secrecy to be carried towards their close relations and families on the subject of the ART. Hence the need for psychological follow-up in the various fertility centers concerned.
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