Women With Infertility Want Registered

¶ … Women with Infertility Want Registered Nurses to Know: Implication for Nursing Practice

The purpose of this project is to identify those aspects typically associated with infertility that adversely affect women, and to a lesser extent men, as they attempt to resolve the economic, physical, social, and psychological effects that are frequently a part of the response to the condition. Both men and women have reported that their experience with infertility healthcare practitioners was almost entirely negative, considering the experience as being impersonal and insensitive, focusing on the "cure" of conceiving a child, rather than a holistic approach of dealing with all the emotional, as well as physical, issues that confront a couple experiencing infertility.

Introduction.

Current Statistics on Infertility in U.S. population. The current statistics on infertility in the United States vary, with some authorities placing the incidence at approximately 3.5 million couple (Daniluk, 2001) and others reporting that infertility is currently experienced by approximately 2.1 million married couples in the United States (Gibson & Myers, 2002). A common definition exists, though, that states that infertility is a condition that is commonly defined as the inability to achieve a pregnancy after one year of regular sexual intercourse without the use of contraception (Daniluk, 2001). The incidence of infertile couples is expected to increase in the future as a result of a growing population of childbearing age, postponement of pregnancy, and a "silent" epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (Men and Women React Differently, 1993).

Importance of problem to nurses. Because childbearing is a major, normative transition for both men and women, the experience of infertility constitutes a nonevent transition and has been conceptualized as a "crisis" (Atwood & Dobkin, 1992). While the inability to conceive children is frequently devastating to both partners, studies have shown that men and women have different reactions to infertility (Men and Women React Differently, 1993). The crisis associated with infertility is regarded as highly complex and is comprised of multiple physical, financial, social, and psychological stressors (Gibson & Myers, 2002). According to Donna M. Gibson and Jane E. Myers (2002), "The experience of infertility creates negative economic, physical, social, and psychological effects, especially for women. This often results in multiple stresses and needs for coping in these women" (p. 68). The manner in which women cope with these experiences are perhaps better described than understood in the literature; consequently, these authors suggest that existing counseling interventions do not adequately meet the needs of women who may be experiencing infertility. The authors report that the results of a study of 83 women who received varied services at assisted reproduction clinics participated in a study of the relationship between the use of social coping resources, growth-fostering relationships, and infertility stress support the use of social coping resources for coping with infertility stress. In addition, Gibson and Myers point out that these results also reinforce the usefulness of understanding the types of growth-fostering relationships that can be an additional resource for helping nurses conceptualize women's experiences and design effective interventions to help women cope with infertility stress (Gibson & Myers, 2002).

Types of Needs associated with Infertility.

1. Psychosocial needs. Generally speaking, and not surprisingly, women experience more negative effects than men throughout the entire infertility diagnostic and treatment process. Some of the common effects experienced include a greater sense of loss of control than men have and a greater tendency to blame themselves for the couple's infertility. Furthermore, a number of studies have shown that women are more likely to perceive childlessness as simply unacceptable and these authors note that there has been numerous gender differences identified in coping with infertility (Gibson & Myers, 2002).

2. Sociocultural needs. The study by Gibson and Myers examined the relationships among social coping resources, growth-fostering relationships, and infertility stress in 83 women who participated in fertility treatments at urban medical clinics. The findings of their study suggest that both social coping resources and growth-fostering relationships contribute significantly to the variance in infertility stress, with infertility stress decreasing as social coping resources increase; these findings are congruent with the findings of earlier research on the positive effects of social coping on emotional health, particularly as they concern infertile women. In addition, Gibson and Myers found that partner support and family support contribute significantly to the prediction of the variance in infertility stress. "Based on these results," they say, "it is clear that family and partner supports are very important coping resources for women coping with infertility stress" (emphasis added) (p. 69).