Why are couples satisfied with infertility treatment?

OBJECTIVE

To determine which factors relate to satisfaction with infertility treatment.

DESIGN

A prospective structured interview research design was used.

SETTING

In-person and telephone interviews were conducted.

PARTICIPANTS

Wives and husbands from 185 couples in southeastern Michigan with primary infertility were studied.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

There were two main outcome measures: how satisfied people were with the infertility treatment they received and why they were satisfied.

RESULTS

Both men and women were satisfied with the infertility treatment they had received. The most frequently mentioned reasons for satisfaction were the technical skills and the emotional support of infertility specialists. Both men and women advised infertility specialists to be compassionate and share information with their patients. Spouses' satisfaction with treatment was the greatest predictor for both men and women. For men, using escape as a coping skill was a negative predictor for treatment satisfaction. For women, personal control and the number of infertility treatments received were other predictors for treatment satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

As hypothesized, a variety of psychosocial factors were related to treatment satisfaction. Contrary to expectation, treatment costs and how long respondents had been trying to have a child were not related to treatment satisfaction. This study's results suggest that physicians and their staff should pay particular attention to their patients' emotional needs, to their patients' understanding of procedures explained to them, to discussing adoption with their patients, to involving men more in the infertility treatment, and to assisting women to have more control over their course of treatment.