Different ways men and women live through infertility treatment

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  How gender identity is constructed by patients and clinicians within infertility treatment consultations and how treatment impacts on gender identity in everyday life: Analysis with multimodal resources

• IRAS ID

  109700

• Contact name

  Eva Prikrylova

• Contact email

  eva.prikrylova2007@my.ntu.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Nottingham Trent University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  7 years, 0 months, 3 days

• Research summary

  How gender identity is constructed by patients and clinicians within infertility treatment consultations.

  Westernised ideals of how heterosexual men and women should behave (also called femininity and masculinity) create social pressure to have their own children. This often drives infertile couples to repeated infertility treatments. The experience of a lengthy and painful treatment can lead to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

  This project is interested in the ways infertile heterosexual and childless men and women behave and interact within infertility consultations (the impact femininity and masculinity has on their interactions). The research will also shed light onto:

  • The impact clinicians have on gendered behaviour of their patients
  • The negotiation of responsibility for infertility and failed treatment
  • The relationship between the body, infertility and identity
  • The effective interaction between clinicians and patients

  The research is planned for 4 years, where data will be collected during the second year. Nurture Fertility, an infertility clinic in Nottingham has agreed to participate. Infertility clinicians and childless heterosexual patients with infertility problems will be recruited. Actual medical consultations between infertility clinicians and patients will be video recorded by cameras set in advance (to prevent any potential disruption to the consultation process). Additionally, semi­ structured interviews with the couples and clinicians will be conducted to acquire the participants’ perspective on the experience of infertility and treatment.

  The video recordings will be analysed by conversation analysis, which embraces discourse (language, melody etc.), non­verbal interaction (facial expressions, gestures) and the material environment which impacts the interaction (setting of the room, paperwork). The results will be disseminated in meetings with infertility professionals and infertility patients and should aid the professional development of clinicians and psychological well­being for patients. Since this is a PhD project, the results will be collated into a thesis and published in appropriate journals and conferences.

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  17/EM/0009

• Date of REC Opinion

  12 Feb 2017

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion