Disposition Decisions by Couples with Frozen Embryos

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this qualitative research is to better understand how infertile couples who have undergone in vitro fertilization decide what to do with their surplus frozen embryos. Because this question is complicated by the variety and disparity of the embryo's potential uses and dispositions, e.g., they can be used by the couple in further attempts to conceive, "donated" to other infertile couples who wish to have a child, used in stem cell research, or stored indefinitely, discarded, or destroyed, the limited available data suggests that couples address this decision with considerable uncertainty and ambivalence. This 48-month ethnographic study would be the first in-depth examination of how couples think about their frozen embryos and formulate their disposition decision. The research will study 100 couples longitudinally over a one-year period, using three in-depth interviews of husbands and wives separately and together at six-month intervals, inducting participants who have frozen embryos in storage for between one and ten years. Qualitative data analysis will then proceed in a seven-step progression. The specific aims of this research are: (1) to examine the meanings that women and men attach to embryos; (2) to understand how women and men think about embryos in relation to concepts of the family; (3) to explore differences and similarities in how women and men conceptualize embryos; and (4) to describe the process women and men engage in as they consider the disposition of their frozen embryos, and whether their views of what should be done change over time. An exploration of the frozen embryo disposition decision would not only deepen our understanding of changing cultural notions about the meaning of family, but would inform several specific areas of public health policy that are currently mired in ambiguity, uncertainty, and controversy, e.g., the responsibilities and obligations of IVF clinics, the use of frozen embryos for stem cell research, and the "donation" or "adoption" of frozen embryos.