Assessing the needs of assisted reproductive technology users of an online bulletin board

Wingert, Susan; Harvey, Carol D. H.; Duncan, Karen A.; Berry, Ruth E.

doi:10.1111/j.1470-6431.2005.00461.x

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Many couples now use the internet for information and support (Kahlor and Mackert 2009, Porter and Bhattacharya 2008, Rawal and Haddad 2006). Wingert et al (2005) argue that internet self-help in the form of online bulletin boards serves many of the same functions as support groups, but Epstein et al (2002) present evidence that suggests that women who use the internet as their only outlet for infertility support are more depressed than those with multiple outlets. Cousineau et al (2008) have found that a program designed to provide patient support via the internet had positive effects.…”

Section: Research On the Psychology Of Infertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have shown that patients are intimidated by the language of biomedicine and by the technical aspects of infertility treatment, especially in situations where language barriers exist (Becker et al 2005, Ulrich and Weatherall 2000, Wingert et al 2005). The infertility treatment experience has been described as a situation that engulfs patients and dominates their daily routine (Daniluk 2001, Redshaw et al 2007).…”

Section: Sociocultural Environment Of Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The experience of infertility: a review of recent literature

Greil¹,

Slauson-Blevins²,

McQuillan³

2010

Sociology of Health &Amp; Illness

639

500

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About 10 years ago Greil published a review and critique of the literature on the socio-psychological impact of infertility. He found at the time that most scholars treated infertility as a medical condition with psychological consequences rather than as a socially constructed reality. This article examines research published since the last review. More studies now place infertility within larger social contexts and social scientific frameworks although clinical emphases persist. Methodological problems remain but important improvements are also evident. We identify two vigorous research traditions in the social scientific study of infertility. One tradition uses primarily quantitative techniques to study clinic patients in order to improve service delivery and to assess the need for psychological counseling. The other tradition uses primarily qualitative research to capture the experiences of infertile people in a sociocultural context. We conclude that more attention is now being paid to the ways in which the experience of infertility is shaped by social context. We call for continued progress in the development of a distinctly sociological approach to infertility and for the continued integration of the two research traditions identified here.

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Section: Research On the Psychology Of Infertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sociocultural Environment Of Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The experience of infertility: a review of recent literature

Greil¹,

Slauson-Blevins²,

McQuillan³

2010

Sociology of Health &Amp; Illness

639

500

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Patients report feeling that they have little control over treatment and that they are not being treated like people (Redshaw et al, 2007). Several studies have shown that patients are intimidated by the language of biomedicine and by the technical aspects of infertility treatment, especially in situations where language barriers exist (Culley et al, 2006; Becker et al, 2005; Wingert et al, 2005). The infertility treatment experience has been described as a situation that engulfs patients and dominates their daily routine (Daniluk, 2001; Redshaw et al, 2007).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infertility treatment and fertility-specific distress: A longitudinal analysis of a population-based sample of U.S. women

Greil

McQuillan

Lowry

et al. 2011

Social Science & Medicine

117

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Because research on infertile women usually uses clinic-based samples of treatment seekers, it is difficult to sort out to what extent distress is the result of the condition of infertility itself and to what extent it is a consequence of the experience of infertility treatment. We use the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a two-wave national probability sample of U.S. women, to disentangle the effects of infertility and infertility treatment on fertility-specific distress. Using a series of ANOVAs, we examine 266 infertile women who experienced infertility both at Wave 1 and at Wave 2, three years later. We compare eight groups of infertile women based on whether or not they have received treatment and on whether or not they have had a live birth. At Wave 1, infertile women who did not receive treatment and who had no live birth reported lower distress levels than women who received treatment at Wave 1 only, regardless of whether their infertility episode was followed by a live birth. At Wave 2, women who received no treatment have significantly lower fertility-specific distress than women who were treated at Wave 1 or at Waves 1 and 2, regardless of whether there was a subsequent live birth. Furthermore, fertility-specific distress did not increase over time among infertile women who did not receive treatment. The increase in fertility-specific distress was significantly higher for women who received treatment at Wave 2 that was not followed by a live birth than for women who received no treatment or for women who received treatment at Wave 1 only. These patterns suggest that infertility treatment is associated with levels of distress over and above those associated with the state of being infertile in and of itself.

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“…Redshaw et al (2007) find that patients report feeling that they have little control over treatment and that they are not being treated like people. Several studies have shown that patients are intimidated by the language of medicine and by the technical aspects of infertility treatment, especially in situations where language barriers exist (Becker et al 2005;Culley et al 2009;Ulrich and Weatherall 2000;Wingert et al 2005). Greil (2002) summarizes the experience of treatment in terms of three paradoxes: (a) infertile women's sense of loss of control leads them to treatment where they lose even more control; (b) infertile women's feelings of loss of bodily integrity leads them to treatment where the body is invaded; and (c) infertile women's sense of loss of identity leads to treatment where they feel they are not treated as whole people.…”

Section: The Socio-cultural Environment Of Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Construction of Infertility

2011

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Health and illness are not objective states but socially constructed categories. We focus here on infertility, a phenomenon that has shifted from being seen as a private problem of couples to being seen as a medical condition. Studying infertility provides an ideal vantage point from which to study such features of health care as inter‐societal and cross‐cultural disparities in health care, the relationship between identity and health, gender roles, and social and cultural variations in the process of medicalization. Infertility is stratified, both globally and within Western societies. Access to care is extremely limited for many women in developing societies and also for marginalized women in some highly industrialized societies. We also discuss the ways in which responses to infertility are influenced by the process of self‐definition. The experience of infertility is profoundly shaped by varying degrees of pronatalism and patriarchy. In advanced industrial societies, where voluntary childfree status is acknowledged, many women experience infertility as a ‘secret stigma’; in other cultures, where motherhood is normative for all women, infertility may be impossible to hide. In the West, acceptance of the medical model is virtually hegemonic, but in other societies medical interpretations of infertility coexist with traditional interpretations.

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Assessing the needs of assisted reproductive technology users of an online bulletin board

Cited by 16 publications

References 28 publications

The experience of infertility: a review of recent literature

The experience of infertility: a review of recent literature

Infertility treatment and fertility-specific distress: A longitudinal analysis of a population-based sample of U.S. women

The Social Construction of Infertility

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