Barriers to Infertility Treatment: An Integrated Study

Abstract

Background:Infertility is one of the most important events in life. Despite the negative impact of infertility, a significant number of women struggling to conceive do not consult a physician and do not fallow up infertility treatment. This integrated study aimed to investigate a large amount of factors which influenced discontinuation of infertility treatment.Methods:This integrated study (qualitative – quantitative study) was done on infertile women who had referred to infertility center in Jahrom University of medical sciences using purposive sampling. In the first study, data were collected from a valid questionnaire with 22 questions in a 5-point likert scale about barriers to infertility treatments and in the second study, as a phenomenology approach, data collection was done using deep unstructured interviews and focused groups were aimed to identify deep individual experiences about it.Results:major barriers to infertility treatments included the probability of treatment failure (52.5%), couple’s age and possibility of high risk pregnancy (51.5%), Painfulness of some treatment methods such as laparoscopy (50.5%). Qualitative results led to the identification of three main themes: Nature of treatment, negative thinking, social and cultural factors.Conclusion:As a result, we suggest family education and enrichment of cultural context in the field of infertility; infertile people would be willing to pursue infertility treatments.

Fertility Preservation and Infertility Treatment in Medical Training: An Assessment of Residency and Fellowship Program Directors' Attitudes

“…In addition, time off and moral support were the most common resources for residents undergoing infertility treatment, but few programs provided financial support, even though high costs are a major barrier for trainees. 32 Trainees with infertility are burdened with medical school debt, low salary, and an intense schedule, further discouraging them from pursuing treatment. 33 …”

Knowledge, anxiety levels and attitudes of infertile couples towards COVID-19 and its impact on self-funded fertility treatment: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey

“…In the South Asian subcontinent, infertility is associated with social stigma and infertile couples often face harassment and ostracism. While the women are mostly blamed and bear the brunt of social isolation and abuse, in some cases men also face ridicule and humiliation ( Mosalanejad et al , 2013 ). While the psychosocial ramifications of infertility in the South Asian continent are significant, providing access to fertility treatment is lower down the priority list for health policy makers owing to limited healthcare resources.…”

“The worst time of my life”: Treatment‐related stress and unmet needs of women living with infertility

“…Prior research has shown only half of infertile couples in the US are able to afford treatment (Inhorn & Patrizio, 2015;Kessler et al, 2013), with little progress for the uninsured or underinsured (Berger et al, 2013). Financial burden may be a main factor that contributes to treatment delay or dropout (Mosalanejad et al, 2013;Zargham-Boroujeni et al, 2014). One of our participants poignantly said, "It's not a 'want.'…”