Infertility as a Transformational Process: A Framework for Psychotherapeutic Support of Infertile Women

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to investigate the phenomenon of infertility as experienced by infertile women. A purposive sample of 25 infertile women participated in the study. Data were extracted from taped interviews and the researcher's observational field notes. Data analysis was conducted according to the techniques described by Miles and Huberman (1994). Participant responses to interviews were categorized by examining the interview transcripts and identifying significant statements and meanings. Themes which emerged from the statements were then ascertained and cross-case comparisons were made in order to confirm or to reconsider these themes. Five key themes emerged from the data: failure to fulfill a prescribed societal norm, assault on personal identity, mourning, transformation, and restitution. The women experienced infertility as a transformational process in which they mourned their loss of reproductive function and parenting roles and struggled to make restitution for the perceived stigma and powerlessness associated with nonfulfillment of a prescribed societal norm, the exclusion from cherished societal rituals, and the deprivation of ties of descent. Findings from this study have provided a framework for increased awareness of the phenomenon of infertility and for the essential components of supportive counseling or psychotherapy, regardless of the outcome of the infertility experience.

Perceptions of infertility information and support sources among female patients who access the Internet

“…Infertility provides a unique forum for the study of online information-seeking behaviors because it is a common medical condition, affecting up to 10% of U.S. couples, and it is stigmatized, making communication a challenge for physicians and patients (14). Furthermore, testing and treatment options are constantly changing and developing, which means that traditional information sources, such as books, become outdated soon after publication.…”

Bew�ltigung des unerf�llten Kinderwunsches

“…In den qualitativen Studien, die sich der Verarbeitung des unerfüllten Kinderwunsches widmeten, konnten verschiedene, nicht immer chronologisch verlaufende Phasen der Bewältigung (Schock, Verneinung, Ärger, Schuld, Isolierung, Depression, Trauer und Akzeptanz) bestätigt werden (Gonzalez 2000;Onnen-Isemann 2000). Diese Phasen sind bereits in ähn-licher Form im Zusammenhang mit der Verarbeitung anderer schwerwiegender Lebensereignisse beschrieben worden.…”

“Nobody Thinks Twice About Asking”: Women With a Fertility Problem and Requests for Information

“…various scholars who argue that we live in an unquestionably pronatalist society in which infertility can put a woman's identity in peril and lead to social sanctioning (Gonzalez, 2000;Miall, 1994;Whiteford & Gonzalez, 1995). Sandelowski and Jones (1986) noted that while discussion of intimate topics, especially with strangers or acquaintances, is often forbidden, the topic of childbearing, though intensely private, does not appear to be subject to this taboo.…”