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Approximately 12% of women in the United States have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term (i.e., infertility). Infertility permeates women's lives and is psychologically, socially and financially burdensome. This study aimed to describe women's experiences regarding infertility and explore factors that women find helpful to alleviate their fertility-related stressors. Using purposive sample, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with infertile women. Participants reported multiple infertility treatment-related stressors including (a) difficulty accessing infertility treatment due to financial issues, geographic disparities, and healthcare provider factors; (b) challenges during infertility treatment related to painful, embarrassing, confusing treatments, side effects, and healthcare providers' failures to fully address women's needs. The stories and findings add to a body of literature that elucidate significant stressors that women encounter in their fertility journey including a desire for empathetic, understandable, and effective treatment and support, and the crucial role of healthcare providers.

Stigma is a barrier to accessing care and treatment for perinatal women with pain and opioid dependency, resulting in increased maternal/neonatal morbidity and mortality, prolonged neonatal hospitalizations, and increased healthcare-related costs. This theory-generating qualitative meta-synthesis includes 18 qualitative research reports and describes the stigma-related experiences of perinatal women with opioid dependency. A model emerged consisting of cyclical yet pivotal care points, facilitators/deterrents of stigma, and stigma experiences including infant-associative stigma. Findings of this qualitative meta-synthesis include the following: (a) Perinatal stigma experiences may prevent women from accessing care; (b) Infant-associative stigma may influence the woman to deflect stigma from her infant onto herself; and (c) There is the risk of mothers withdrawing their infants from healthcare to protect from future anticipated stigma. Implications reveal ideal time points to enact healthcare interventions to reduce perinatal stigma experiences and its consequences on maternal/child health and wellness.

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