Iranian women's experiences of infertility: A qualitative study

Nader Aghakhani, Aghakhani N, Marianne Ewalds-Kvist B, Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist, Fatemeh Sheikhan, Sheikhan F, Merghati Khoei E, Effat Merghati Khoei
International journal of reproductive biomedicine · 2019 · vol. 18(1) , pp. 65–72 · doi:10.18502/ijrm.v18i1.6203 · PMID:32043073 · PMC6996123
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This qualitative study analyzed interviews with Iranian women to identify four major themes regarding their lived experiences of infertility, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive and gender-specific care protocols.

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This qualitative study explored the psychological experiences of Iranian women diagnosed with primary or secondary infertility through semi-structured interviews analyzed using a trauma-progression framework. The researchers identified four distinct stages of response to childlessness: shock, reaction, processing, and reorientation, noting that participants frequently experienced disbelief, social stigma, and marital strain. A significant limitation acknowledged by the authors is the small sample size drawn from a specific cultural context where fertility is highly valued, which may limit the generalizability of the findings regarding emotional distress and coping mechanisms. This paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are concerns and diverse experiences related to infertility and childlessness. The lived experience of infertile people from various cultures needs to be explored. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore Iranian women experiences of their infertility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data comprised interviews about fertility issues in the Persian language with eighteen women, aged 17-45 yr old, who agreed to be interviewed at the Mottahari Infertility Treatment Clinic, affiliated to the Urmia University of Medical Sciences about their fertility problems. They were approached by the researchers at the time of their first visit. The verbatim transcribed interviews were analyzed using deductive conventional content analysis. RESULTS: The experiences of the informants were conceptualized into four major themes: 1) Shock (subthemes: Disbelief and Denial); 2) Reaction (subthemes: Distress, Guilt, Loss of self-esteem and Sexual reluctance); 3) Processing (subthemes: Internal processing, Avoidance, Marriage at risk, External processing, Stigma caused by the family and Stigma caused by the community) and 4) Reorientation (subthemes: Forgetting, Marriage to saving marriage and Sexual consent). CONCLUSION: Infertility can be a challenging condition. Considering that infertility-related issues affect Iranian women more contextual factors is necessary. So, culturally sensitive and gender specific protocols are suggested to provide suitable and about culturally sensitive and gender-specific protocols is a necessity in order to provide suitable care to infertile women.
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One of the limitations of the present study is that we have used a small sample size of women with fertility problems who belong to a culture in which they would be expected to give birth to a child in order to gain their place in society. The results were derived from patients' self-reporting while still on infertility treatment. Their memory can, therefore, be distorted. They were also in different stages of trauma processing, and only a few of them showed signs of having accepted their fertility problem. Altogether 39% suffered from secondary infertility, which means that they had already been through traumatic experiences; this would have certainly added to their present situation (12).

Coi Statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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