Understanding non compliance in fertility treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding non compliance in fertility treatment: a longitudinal prospective study
IRAS ID
141142
Contact name
Carla Sofia Gameiro
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Research summary
Parenthood is a goal 77% of people expect to achieve. However, individuals perceive a blockage to parenthood goal when they are diagnosed with infertility. Infertility affects 9% of couples worldwide and 55% choose to undergo treatment. Fertility treatment involves multiple cycle attempts and after each unsuccessful attempt couples must decide whether to continue with further treatment. Compliance with fertility treatments is defined as the patient’s uptake of the number of cycles recommended by their health care provider. Research has shown that many couples do not comply with treatment recommendations. This discontinuation represents a negative treatment outcome for patients and clinics because it means the non-realization of the biological parenthood goal for patients and a lower overall cumulative pregnancy rate for the clinic. One psychological theory that can be applied to understand why people discontinue from infertility treatment is self-regulation theory. It describes the strategies people employ to pursue important life goals and the process of self-regulation when people face goal blockages, such as infertility. Self-regulation refers to the process by which people restore a sense of wellbeing after important threats.
The present study aims to investigate how individuals and/or couples regulate when faced with a blockage to biological parenthood and how this process determines wellbeing and decision-making about uptake of [further] fertility treatment. The study will have three assessment moments: one to two months before the start of a treatment cycle (T1) and two months (T2) and twelve months (T3) after the start of the cycle. The sample will be collected at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine and will be composed of 220 infertile adults (couples and single people) starting a fertility treatment cycle. At the different assessment moments participants will complete self-report questionnaires about self-regulation and wellbeing.
The Sponsor of the project is Cardiff University (via UMAL).REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SW/0135
Date of REC Opinion
15 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion