Marital Challenges of Infertile Couples: A Phenomenological Study

The aim of this study was to investigate and determine the marital challenges of infertile couples.

The research method of the present study is a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. The scope of research includes infertile men and women who have referred to the Royan Research Institute and the Office of Social Welfare and Family Counseling for advanced infertility treatment. The researcher paid by purposive sampling method and by semi-structured interviews with 15 couples and analyzed the obtained data based on the practical method of collage.

The results of the present study, by examining and classifying the descriptive codes obtained from the interview texts, identified 27 sub-categories and due to their similarity and semantic similarity, in 6 main concepts including: challenges in decision making and acceptance of treatment, challenges related to actions and Reactions of family and others include concerns about cultural and social rejection and religious concerns, concerns about the possibility of physical, mental and behavioral defects of the child, challenges affecting cohabitation and economic challenges of infertility treatment.

The extracted themes showed that infertility can affect the entire life of an infertile couple. Wider use of midwifery and psychological counseling services for infertile couples and those around them in infertility treatment centers seems to be helpful for these couples.