Lived Experiences of Infertile Couples who Seek Treatment at Saint Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2023 G.C
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Date
2023
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: In almost all cultures, having children and raising them are significant aspects of life, and for African women including Ethiopian women, it is their most important duty. Infertility is a medical condition that can touch every aspect of a couple’s life with a wide range of sociocultural, psychological, and financial problems for individuals as well as couples. There
is a scarcity of literature in the country focusing on couples experiencing infertility and going through a treatment journey.
Objective: This study aims to explore the lived experiences of infertile couples focusing on psychological, sociocultural and financial aspects among couples who seek treatment at Saint Paul hospital millennium medical college, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2023 G.C
Methods: a qualitative study with a phenomenological study design was employed from February 20- March 20/2023 among 15 infertile couples who seek infertility treatment at Saint Paul hospital millennium medical college. Study participants were selected purposively and the
interviews were conducted with a face-to-face in-depth interview using a semi-structured interview guide. The analysis was conducted with thematic analysis by using both a priori codes (from the query guide) and emerging inductive codes approaches. ATLAS ti V 9 qualitative software was used to support the analysis of the data.
Result: Five themes and 14 sub-themes related to couple’s lived experiences of infertility were identified. Including (i) Emotional-psychological impacts; (ii) impacts on relationships; (iii) cultural impacts (iv) treatment related challenges and (v) coping mechanisms. These result shed light on the multi-dimensional impacts faced by infertile couples.
Conclusion: According to this study, infertile couples seeking treatment encounter a number of psychological, sociological, and economical issues that have a grave impact on their mental health and general wellbeing. Therefore, including psychosocial interventions or counselling in the fertility treatment and receiving financial assistance from governmental agencies for the
expense of treatment may lessen the burden of infertility.
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Keywords
Infertile couples, infertility, lived experience, Ethiopia