Lived experience of infertility among Hong Kong Chinese women

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore and describe the phenomenon of women with infertility and to enhance understanding on how infertility affects their lives and the specific social consequence they encountered. Method: A qualitative phenomenological design was adopted in this study. A total of 13 women who are infertile participated in the study. A snowball sampling method was adopted. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results: Four themes emerged in the study, including (i) non-escapable cultural burden in Chinese family; (ii) psychological distress: isolation caused by envy; (iii) disappointment towards reproductive health services; and (iv) self-compassion and religion as coping strategies. Conclusions: The causes of infertility are highly complex. Apart from medical conditions, many social conditions would also probably trigger the difficulty of conceiving. Health care professional should also focus on the social and psychological aspects of women of infertility.

The Dyadic Interaction Model of Relationship Quality and the Impact of Attachment Orientation and Empathy on Infertile Couples in China

“…Avoidant attachment means that women are unwilling to reveal their inner pain to their partners and choose to be more introvertive in dealing with fertility problems. This is similar to the previous qualitative interview results of Chinese infertile women, who chose to avoid communication in order to alleviate their pain, which can cause more loneliness [14]. The results of this study show that attachment avoidance is a negative predictor of relationship quality.…”

“…There are also studies which found that infertility affects the marital bond and leads to poorer resilience, which causes lower scores in relationship quality [12,13]. Some quantitative studies found that infertile couple cannot control their lives because infertility is so frustrating [14]. Despite advances in medical technology, it is not worth it for some infertile families to divorce because of infertility before they can get effective help.…”

Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on the Quality of Life in Infertile Women During Treatment: A Randomized Control Trial

“…distortions and inefficient thoughts, thus the activation of these thoughts makes them focus on themselves, feel worthless and hopeless, and experience low mood, and finally, deteriorates their symptoms. Teaching different methods of challenging by unreasonable thoughts and choosing an appropriate approach to the problem, which is known as "cognitive defusion" in ACT, can affect the quality of the life of infertile couples through affecting these aspects (11) The physical aspect (i.e., general health, physical role, and bodily pain) is considered as one of the important dimensions of the quality of life. Based on the results of a study, infertile people have problems which are related to the physical dimension (28).…”

Current Trends in Nursing Research Across Five Locations: The United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong

“…In the literature searches through KCI, a total of 204 articles on low fertility were retrieved during the period of 2010 to 2019 in South Korea. In Hong Kong, the low birth rate also affected the economy and worsened the problems of the aging population (Tiu, Hong, Cheng, Kam, & Ng, 2018). As a result, there was a growing research interest in infertility and its relationship to quality of life in Hong Kong as well (Tiu et al, 2018).…”