Infertility: Pathways and Psychosocial Outcomes

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究将一般求助模型应用于人类不孕症的研究，重点是不孕症的治疗途径和结果。至少有三分之一的美国妇女在一生中的某个时候会遇到生育的生物医学障碍，随着生育推迟的趋势，这一数字可能会上升。有生物医学障碍的人中，不到一半的人寻求治疗。这个为期五年的研究项目开始于对5,700名女性及其伴侣的电话采访，其中包括有色人种女性的过度抽样。三年后，所有无子女的妇女和打算再生育的妇女加上其他妇女（同样，及其伴侣）的子样本将重新接受采访。重新面试至关重要，原因有二。首先，它允许我们使用时间1特征来预测那些新遇到生育问题的人和那些已经经历过生育障碍但没有寻求治疗或在许多情况下甚至认识到他们不孕的人的途径和结果。其次，因为不孕症的解决不是一个单一的决定，而是一个复杂的过程，有许多替代途径，重新采访将允许检查相互影响，包括时间1痛苦寻求帮助的影响。这项研究有四个目标：1）测试不孕症患者寻求医疗帮助的一般模式; 2）确定不孕症对个体社会心理结果、身份和社会关系的影响; 3）评估对辅助生殖技术伦理问题的关注程度，包括伦理问题在多大程度上成为治疗的障碍;和4）为其他对生育、不育、求助和成年人幸福感兴趣的研究人员提供公共使用数据集。 记录和解释种族/民族和社会阶层在寻求帮助、寻求帮助的行为结果和心理社会反应方面的差异将是每个阶段的一个问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research applies a general help-seeking model to the study of human infertility with a focus on pathways to treatment and outcomes of infertility. At least one-third of American women experience biomedical barriers to fertility sometime in their lives, and the numbers may rise with the trend toward delayed childbearing. Less than half of those with bio-medical barriers seek medical treatment. This five-year research project begins with telephone interviews with a sample of 5,700 women and their partners, including an over-sample of women of color. Three years later, all childless women and women who intend additional children plus a sub-sample of other women (again, and their partners) will be reinterviewed. The reinterview is critical for two reasons. First, it allows us to use time 1 characteristics to predict pathways and outcomes for those who newly experience fertility problems and those who have already experienced fertility barriers but have not pursued treatment or, in many cases, even recognized their infertility. Second, because infertility resolution is not a single decision but a complex process with many alternative routes, the reinterview will allow examination of reciprocal effects, including the effect of time 1 distress on help seeking. The study has four aims: 1) Test a general model of medical help-seeking applied to infertility; 2) Identify the consequences of infertility for individual social psychological outcomes, identities, and social relationships; 3) Assess prevalence of concerns about the ethics of assisted reproductive technologies, including the extent to which ethical concerns act as a barrier to treatment; and 4) Provide a public use data set for other researchers who are interested in issues of fertility, infertility, helpseeking, and well being among adults. Documenting and explaining disparities by race/ethnicity and social class in helpseeking, in behavioral outcomes of helpseeking, and in psychosocial responses will be a concern at every stage.