Empowerment and Sense of Adequacy in Infertile Couples: A Fundamental Need in Treatment Process of Infertility - A Qualitative Study

Authors

Ali Zargham-Boroujeni, Isfahan University of Medical SciencesFollow
Fatemeh Jafarzadeh-Kenarsari, Isfahan University of Medical SciencesFollow
Ataollah Ghahiri, Isfahan University of Medical SciencesFollow
Mojtaba Habibi, Shahid-Beheshti UniversityFollow

Abstract

Many Iranian couples are suffering from infertility, and their needs have remained unexplored thus far; therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the infertile couples’ needs and experiences during diagnosis and different stages of infertility treatment. Specific research question included: What are infertile couples’ viewpoints and perceptions about their needs in treatment process of infertility? Researchers used a qualitative design, based on a content analysis approach to analyze in-depth unstructured interviews conducted with seventeen infertile couples. The participants’ needs were categorized into five categories. All five categories had one theme in common which was identified as “empowerment and sense of adequacy” as a fundamental need during diagnosis and treatment processes of infertility. The study findings showed that the under-studied fertility care centers were not patient-centered; and patients’ needs were not recognised appropriately. Perhaps, addressing patients’ needs and expectations is the first step toward more paying attention to infertile couples and empowering them.

Keywords

Empowerment, Experiences, Infertility, Needs, Qualitative Research

Acknowledgements

This study is one part of second author’s PhD Thesis on Reproductive Health which was approved at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Thus, researchers of this study wish to express their gratefulness to all authorities for their financial support for this study. We thank all infertile couples and professionals from the public and private infertility treatment centers for their participation and cooperation in the data gathering.

Publication Date

2-10-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1274

Recommended APA Citation

Zargham-Boroujeni, A., Jafarzadeh-Kenarsari, F., Ghahiri, A., & Habibi, M. (2014). Empowerment and Sense of Adequacy in Infertile Couples: A Fundamental Need in Treatment Process of Infertility - A Qualitative Study. The Qualitative Report, 19(6), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1274