Help‐seeking patterns among subfecund women

Abstract

A random sample of women in the midwestern United States was studied in order to provide a fuller picture of the ways in which US women responded to subfecundity. Using a biomedical definition of infertility, we examined women who did not conceive within 12 months of unprotected intercourse whether they were trying to get pregnant or not. Of the 196 ever-subfecund women in our sample, 123 experienced subfecundity while trying to get pregnant; we called these "subfecund with intent." Another 73 women experienced subfecundity while not actively trying to get pregnant; we called these "subfecund without intent." Of the 196 subfecund women, 39% reported having sought treatment. Treatment-seekers had clearer intentions to get pregnant, were more likely to seek infertility information on their own, and were more likely to self-define as having fertility problems. Those with more income, more education and lower internal locus of control were more likely to seek medical help. Among the subfecund with intent who pursued medical help, about a fourth had received treatment. The few women who had sought spiritual counseling or non-conventional help often combined these actions with medical help-seeking. This study supported the conclusion that common-sense understandings among subfecund women play an important role in help-seeking behavior. From a practical point of view, there is a large unmet need for infertility services and infertility counseling in the United States.

Resilience in infertile couples acts as a protective factor against infertility-specific distress and impaired quality of life

“…Authors such as Greil and McQuillan [31] and Newton et al [32] describe seeking social support as a widespread coping strategy in women. Our results suggest that the social environment of the women studied reacted adequately to her call for help irrespective of the degree of her infertility-specific distress.…”

Infertility and Life Satisfaction Among Women

“…It is estimated that half of women who meet the criteria for infertility seek help. This half is self-selected and likely contains more women with strong desires for a child (Greil & McQuillan, 2004). It is unclear what the association between infertility and life satisfaction might be among all women meeting the medical criteria for infertility-those who have sought help, those who have not, those who experienced infertility in the past, those who are still experiencing it, those with children, and those without-because this is a heterogeneous group.…”

Catch 22? Disclosing assisted conception treatment at work

“…Single men and women, and same sex couples are also increasingly seeking treatment in the UK to overcome involuntary childlessness and build a family (van den Akker, 2017). Many involuntary childless people never seek treatment (Greil and Mcquillan, 2004) and some of these are too depressed to seek help (Crawford et al, 2017). However, especially for women who do seek treatment, assisted conception is time consuming, costly, physically uncomfortable, unpredictable and can lead to effects on mood and performance in work and non-work domains (van den Akker, 2012).…”