澳大利亚女性使用补充和替代医学来提高生育能力：探索女性和从业者的经验。
Australian women's use of complementary and alternative medicines to enhance fertility: exploring the experiences of women and practitioners.
机构信息
Mother and Child Health Research, La Trobe University, 324-328 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.
出版信息
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009 Dec 15;9:52. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-9-52.
BACKGROUND
Studies exploring the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to enhance fertility are limited. While Australian trends indicate that women are using CAM during pregnancy, little is known about women's use of CAM for fertility enhancement. With the rising age of women at first birth, couples are increasingly seeking assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to achieve parenthood. It is likely that CAM use for fertility enhancement will also increase, however this is not known. This paper reports on an exploratory study of women's use of CAM for fertility enhancement.
METHODS
Three focus groups were conducted in Melbourne, Australia in 2007; two with women who used CAM to enhance their fertility and one with CAM practitioners. Participants were recruited from five metropolitan Melbourne CAM practices that specialise in women's health. Women were asked to discuss their views and experiences of both CAM and ART, and practitioners were asked about their perceptions of why women consult them for fertility enhancement. Groups were digitally recorded (audio) and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed thematically.
RESULTS
Focus groups included eight CAM practitioners and seven women. Practitioners reported increasing numbers of women consulting them for fertility enhancement whilst also using ART. Women combined CAM with ART to maintain wellbeing and assist with fertility enhancement. Global themes emerging from the women's focus groups were: women being willing to 'try anything' to achieve a pregnancy; women's negative experiences of ART and a reluctance to inform their medical specialist of their CAM use; and conversely, women's experiences with CAM being affirming and empowering.
CONCLUSIONS
The women in our study used CAM to optimise their chances of achieving a pregnancy. Emerging themes suggest the positive relationships achieved with CAM practitioners are not always attained with orthodox medical providers. Women's views and experiences need to be considered in the provision of fertility services, and strategies developed to enhance communication between women, medical practitioners and CAM practitioners. Further research is needed to investigate the extent of CAM use for fertility enhancement in Australia, and to explore the efficacy and safety of CAM use to enhance fertility, in isolation or with ART.
背景
探索使用补充和替代医学（CAM）来提高生育能力的研究有限。虽然澳大利亚的趋势表明，女性在怀孕期间正在使用 CAM，但对于女性为提高生育能力而使用 CAM 的情况知之甚少。随着女性初育年龄的增加，越来越多的夫妇正在寻求辅助生殖技术（ART）来实现生育。因此，为提高生育能力而使用 CAM 的情况也可能会增加，但目前尚不清楚这一情况。本文报告了一项关于女性为提高生育能力而使用 CAM 的探索性研究。
方法
2007 年在澳大利亚墨尔本进行了三次焦点小组讨论；其中两次是针对使用 CAM 来提高生育能力的女性，一次是针对 CAM 从业者。参与者是从五家专门从事女性健康的大都市墨尔本 CAM 诊所招募的。女性被要求讨论她们对 CAM 和 ART 的看法和经验，从业者被要求讨论她们认为为什么女性会向她们咨询生育增强。小组会议以数字方式（音频）记录并逐字转录。数据进行了主题分析。
结果
焦点小组包括八名 CAM 从业者和七名女性。从业者报告称，越来越多的女性咨询他们以增强生育能力，同时也使用 ART。女性将 CAM 与 ART 相结合，以保持健康并帮助提高生育能力。从女性焦点小组中出现的全局主题是：女性愿意“尝试任何方法”来实现怀孕；女性对 ART 的负面体验以及不愿意向她们的医疗专家报告她们的 CAM 使用情况；相反，女性对 CAM 的体验是肯定和赋权的。
结论
我们研究中的女性使用 CAM 来优化怀孕的机会。出现的主题表明，与正统医疗提供者相比，CAM 从业者与女性建立的积极关系并不总是能够实现。在提供生育服务时需要考虑女性的观点和经验，并制定策略来加强女性、医疗从业者和 CAM 从业者之间的沟通。需要进一步研究澳大利亚为提高生育能力而使用 CAM 的程度，并探索单独使用或与 ART 一起使用 CAM 来提高生育能力的功效和安全性。
Zotero 插件