Social Impact of Infertility
Story:”Just Take a Vacation…”

David and Darlene have been undergoing infertility treatment off and on for seven years with no success. They have completed a total of two IVF cycles, resulting in 6 and 7 Grade 1 embryos, respectively. (For a discussion of embryo and/or blastocyst grading, see Morphological Scoring of Human Embryos and Its Relevance to Blastocyst Transfer). Neither fresh nor frozen embryo transfers have resulted in pregnancy, and they have begun to become disheartened.

The couple has been reluctant to discuss their infertility treatment with elders in the family who seem to be completely unable to fathom that a child can be conceived in a Petri dish. This is evident from the fact that, after numerous explanations of endometriosis, anti-sperm antibodies, and IVF to David’s grandmother, she still insists that the problem is that the two are trying too hard. “Just take a vacation,” she says. “Get baby-making off your minds and it’ll happen naturally. That’s how your father was conceived.” Hours and hours of explanation did not seem to make a difference, so David and Darlene made a pact to forego any discussion of their infertility treatment with their families.

Your Task:

Read the required readings for this module, and, after doing so, aIDress the following questions in a 1 page paper.

1. To what extent is social support from one’s family essential to surviving the rigors of the infertility treatment process? Please be sure to use the literature, as opposed to personal opinion, to support your response.(1/2 page)

2. As David and Darlene’s infertility counselor, what are three suggestions that you would make to the couple to make families gatherings a little easier. Be sure to identify specific coping strategies from the literature.(1/2 page)