Conclusions
The publication of scholarly research on the infertility experience has grown in the past
10 years. Scholars continue to explore the extent to which infertility is a source of
psychological distress and to accumulate evidence about the importance of gender for the
experience of infertility. Research continues to examine in detail the characteristics of IVF
patients and many aspects of the experience of IVF treatment. New trends are evident as
well. There has been an explosion of ethnographic research that places the experience of
infertility in its sociocultural context. More attention is now being devoted to the
investigation of the long-term consequences of infertility. It is also possible to discern some
movement towards an increased emphasis on the study of the dialectical relationship between
infertility and stress and on the assessment of the effectiveness of psychological interventions.
Some methodological weaknesses persist but there is also progress. There is increased
recognition of the importance of studying couples and of learning more about the male
experience of infertility. There is a growing recognition that reliance on small, non-representative, clinic-based samples of treatment seekers is a problem and researchers have
begun to address these issues. While the underrepresentation of economically deprived and
culturally distinct populations continues to be a problem in the study of infertility in
developed societies, the publication of ethnographic studies of infertility in developing
countries has drawn attention to the need for more of this work. Research and analyses are
moving in the direction of placing the experience of infertility within its social context by
bringing sociological and socio-psychological theories to bear on the experience of infertility.
There are now two vigorous research traditions in the social-scientific study of infertility.
One tradition primarily uses quantitative techniques to study clinic patients with an eye to
improving service delivery and to assessing the need for psychological counselling. The other
tradition primarily uses qualitative research to capture the experiences of infertile individuals
in their sociocultural context. In this article we have tried to interweave these two traditions
in an effort to begin the process of integrating them. Much can be gained by combining the
methodological rigour of the clinical literature with the sensitivity to the socially constructed
nature of infertility evidenced by the cross-cultural literature. Gerrits’ recent (2008) study of a
Dutch fertility clinic provides us with an excellent example of a work that brings an
ethnographic sensibility to the modern clinic setting. Sundby et al. (1998) and Leonard
(2002a, 2002b) have employed sophisticated sampling techniques in an effort to strengthen
the generalisability of their ethnographic observations. Bunting and Boivin (2007) have
recently applied quantitative techniques outside the clinic setting in order to observe
infertility decision-making among women early in the process. The NSFB provides
researchers with the opportunity to address questions of self-definition, social influence and
other issues that have often been neglected in the quantitative literature. The COMPI
research programme represents another notable effort to apply quantitative methodological
strategies to questions revolving around the social construction of infertility.
It seems fairly clear that infertility researchers have begun to apply insights from the
sociology of health and illness, the sociology of gender, the sociology of the body and the
sociology of deviance to understanding the experience of infertility. It is less clear that these
fields have been influenced by research on infertility, but the study of infertility has much to
contribute to the wider discipline. The research on infertility reported upon here can tell
sociologists a great deal about the role of power and social structure in the social
construction of reproduction, nicely captured by the phrase ‘stratified reproduction’
(Ginsburg and Rapp 1995: 3). The research reported upon here also provides us with
evidence that women are not merely passive victims of medicalisation and male reproductive
control but are rather active agents in defining their own experience and in constructing
meaningful moral worlds in situations not of their own choosing. The literature described
here sends a clear message about the importance of self-identity in the medical help-seeking
process and about the importance of the body for identity. The infertility literature can also
serve to remind us that it is not only women who reproduce, who undergomedicalisation and
who experience stigma, and that men need to be a part of research on gender and health.
Conclusions
The publication of scholarly research on the infertility experience has grown in the past
10 years. Scholars continue to explore the extent to which infertility is a source of
psychological distress and to accumulate evidence about the importance of gender for the
experience of infertility. Research continues to examine in detail the characteristics of IVF
patients and many aspects of the experience of IVF treatment. New trends are evident as
well. There has been an explosion of ethnographic research that places the experience of
infertility in its sociocultural context. More attention is now being devoted to the
investigation of the long-term consequences of infertility. It is also possible to discern some
movement towards an increased emphasis on the study of the dialectical relationship between
infertility and stress and on the assessment of the effectiveness of psychological interventions.
Some methodological weaknesses persist but there is also progress. There is increased
recognition of the importance of studying couples and of learning more about the male
experience of infertility. There is a growing recognition that reliance on small, non-representative, clinic-based samples of treatment seekers is a problem and researchers have
begun to address these issues. While the underrepresentation of economically deprived and
culturally distinct populations continues to be a problem in the study of infertility in
developed societies, the publication of ethnographic studies of infertility in developing
countries has drawn attention to the need for more of this work. Research and analyses are
moving in the direction of placing the experience of infertility within its social context by
bringing sociological and socio-psychological theories to bear on the experience of infertility.
There are now two vigorous research traditions in the social-scientific study of infertility.
One tradition primarily uses quantitative techniques to study clinic patients with an eye to
improving service delivery and to assessing the need for psychological counselling. The other
tradition primarily uses qualitative research to capture the experiences of infertile individuals
in their sociocultural context. In this article we have tried to interweave these two traditions
in an effort to begin the process of integrating them. Much can be gained by combining the
methodological rigour of the clinical literature with the sensitivity to the socially constructed
nature of infertility evidenced by the cross-cultural literature. Gerrits’ recent (2008) study of a
Dutch fertility clinic provides us with an excellent example of a work that brings an
ethnographic sensibility to the modern clinic setting. Sundby et al. (1998) and Leonard
(2002a, 2002b) have employed sophisticated sampling techniques in an effort to strengthen
the generalisability of their ethnographic observations. Bunting and Boivin (2007) have
recently applied quantitative techniques outside the clinic setting in order to observe
infertility decision-making among women early in the process. The NSFB provides
researchers with the opportunity to address questions of self-definition, social influence and
other issues that have often been neglected in the quantitative literature. The COMPI
research programme represents another notable effort to apply quantitative methodological
strategies to questions revolving around the social construction of infertility.
It seems fairly clear that infertility researchers have begun to apply insights from the
sociology of health and illness, the sociology of gender, the sociology of the body and the
sociology of deviance to understanding the experience of infertility. It is less clear that these
fields have been influenced by research on infertility, but the study of infertility has much to
contribute to the wider discipline. The research on infertility reported upon here can tell
sociologists a great deal about the role of power and social structure in the social
construction of reproduction, nicely captured by the phrase ‘stratified reproduction’
(Ginsburg and Rapp 1995: 3). The research reported upon here also provides us with
evidence that women are not merely passive victims of medicalisation and male reproductive
control but are rather active agents in defining their own experience and in constructing
meaningful moral worlds in situations not of their own choosing. The literature described
here sends a clear message about the importance of self-identity in the medical help-seeking
process and about the importance of the body for identity. The infertility literature can also
serve to remind us that it is not only women who reproduce, who undergomedicalisation and
who experience stigma, and that men need to be a part of research on gender and health.
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