Medical family therapy with couples facing infertility

The Infertility Resilience Model: Assessing Individual, Couple, and External Predictive Factors

“…For many adults, childbearing provides considerable meaning, status, and fulfillment of responsibility while also satisfying societal expectations (Burns 1987;Meyers et al 1995b). As such, the unexpected emergence of infertilityrelated stress represents, in most cases, the alteration or loss of a crucial life goal for the hopeful childbearing couple (Brothers and Maddux 2003;Burns 1987;Maillet 2003;McDaniel et al 1992;Meyers et al 1995a). As a result, the prospect of infertility retains a heightened associated value for couples, thus affecting individual meaning.…”

“…Individuals' unique perceptions within the marital relationship can be shaped by different gender backgrounds and experiences (Berghuis and Stanton 2002;Greil et al 1988;McDaniel et al 1992). The current review includes the primary influences of individual perceptions and interpretations in relation to external and couple factors.…”

“…Considering that fertility during adulthood is an anticipated experience (Burns 1987), infertility-related stress requires individuals to redefine their identities (McDaniel et al 1992). The unexpected diagnosis of infertility may cause individuals to develop an infertile identity reflective of self-perception (Meyers et al 1995b).…”

“…Not having children can influence patterns such as feelings of generativity or a loss of family and community future, failure in differentiating from one's family of origin or not being seen as ''adults,'' an imbalance in parental or community attention (or both) to families with children, strained sibling and peer relations as similar developmental stages are no longer shared, family and community members not knowing how to respond to infertility, and infertile couples avoiding child-centered family activities (Burns 1987;McDaniel et al 1992;Meyers et al 1995a). In summary, the source of support for couples facing infertility can also be the very source of strain.…”

“…A number of different approaches have been used to understand the experiences of couples faced with infertility. Some of these models include stress and coping (Zucker 1999), the close relationship model of infertility (Higgins 1990), selfdiscrepancy theory (Kikendall 1994), object relations (Greenbaum 2005), self-regulation (Benyamini et al 2004), the relational model of development (Gibson and Myers 2000), a medical/family systems approach (McDaniel et al 1992), and attachment (Amir et al 1999). Each of these applications provides insightful perspectives on the experiences of those facing infertility, yet few of them consider individual, relational, and environmental influences together.…”