Genetic investigation and psychosocial experiences in male infertility
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Genetic investigation and psychosocial experiences in men with infertility.
IRAS ID
118390
Contact name
Kevin McEleny
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Azoospermia is the most severe form of make infertility where sperms are absent from the semen. Often the cause of the azoospermia is unknown and men azoospermia who wish to become biological parents require surgical sperm retrieval to recover sperm for fertility treatment. This is turn an lead to frustration and emotional distress.
This two-part study will allow us to firstly, investigate any genetic problems in the patient’s blood and sperm in order to gain a greater understanding into the causes of male infertility. The ability to grow spermatogonial stem cells in the laboratory in order to develop a system which mimics the environment provided by the testis so that we can be sure how any genetic errors found actually impact the production of mature sperm, will be critical in this work being applied to humans.
Secondly, we aim to investigate men’s behaviour and attitudes to the diagnosis of their own infertility, and to explore their experience of going though further investigation and treatment. We would like to find out what the impact of male factor infertility and fertility treatment has on their day-to-day life. We will explore men’s subjective experiences including their initial psychological reaction, help-seeking behaviour, attitude towards infertility, impact on their relationship with their partner/family/friends and their coping strategies. We hope to gather information that is relevant to our every day clinical work and will ultimately help us to provide the necessary support and optimise the clinical care we provide to men with similar problems.
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NE/0159
Date of REC Opinion
22 May 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion