¶ … Infertility is not only recognized as one of the most stressful experiences for women but it's also regarded as a major challenge in the health care field. Despite being a major challenge, there is little scientific knowledge in the medical field about issues confronting infertile women. However, in the past few years, researchers in the medical field have attempted to identify themes that are significant to infertile women in order to determine their potential link with mental health levels. In attempts to accomplish these objectives, researchers have used various research methods and designs such as qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods. The use of different research approaches is attributed to the fact that none of these designs is appropriate for all research questions. For instance, while quantitative designs have been commonly used to examine various issues in healthcare, they are not suitable for all research questions like examining patients' response to negative test results. These types of research questions require the use of qualitative or mixed research methods. Examining Research on Issues Confronting Infertile Women:

While the research article recognizes that infertility is a stressful experience to women, the authors acknowledge that there is little knowledge about particular themes and burdens that affect these patients. The authors state that many psychological studies have been centered on the psychological consequences of infertility and the appropriate treatment method. A review of existing literature and studies on this topic shows that the effects of assisted reproductive treatment on infertile women have usually been examined (Hammerli, Znoj & Berger, 2010, p.766). However, this treatment method is regarded as the most stressful means of treatment to infertile women.

These researchers commence their study with recognition...

These instruments and designs are used to obtain data on the effect of this condition on the patient's mental health and on the relationships between couples. Despite being historically used to examine these issues, the significance of qualitative research methods in this field has received increased attention in the recent past. The main focus of the study is to determine the critical themes and related patient responses. This is primarily because qualitative research methods have not been used to examine psychosocial issues and the reactions by infertile women to these issues. The authors used qualitative research methods because they were also interested in determining the probable link between specific reactions to infertility and mental health levels.
Standard self-report questionnaires were the qualitative research designs used to examine the psychosocial issues that infertile women encounter and their reactions to these issues. As a follow-up to a quantitative study that was carried out on the issue, the researchers incorporated quantitative data to determine the association between these issues and the patients' mental health. Since the treatment was Internet-based, the participants in the study were encouraged to discuss significant issues about their unfulfilled wish for a child with an online therapist. As a result, there was an exchange of emails between patients and therapists, which were used as the basis for the study. The second qualitative research design used in the study is qualitative content analysis, which was used to assess email messages exchanged between therapists and patients (Hammerli, Znoj & Berger, 2010, p.768).

The research designs used to conduct the study were not only appropriate…