Missing Motherhood: a qualitative study of the experiences of infertile menopausal women

Background and Aim : The qualitative studies are more effective in human experience than quantitativeresearch. Do not have study focusing on the experience of menopausal infertile women who haven’texperienced of motherhood in all their lives. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe theexperience of infertility in menopausal women.Methods : In a phenomenological study, conducted 17 semi-structured individual interviews in Ilam, westof Iran. Study participants were selected purposively by using a snowball sampling technique. Theparticipants met the inclusion criteria, including postmenopausal women with no history of pregnancy, atleast one year after the start of menopause. All women with abnormal menopause such as menopausalinduced by surgery, drugs or chemotherapy were excluded of study. Data analysis was carried out basedthe Colaizzi process for phenomenological data analysis in 8 steps, including; prepare the data, the meaningunits, text encoding, revision of the text codes, categories based on similarity and proportion of classes,revision class and compare this data to ensure the reliability of the code, identification of themes reflectingthe depth and comparison with other classes and report findings.Results : Through analysis six sub themes emerged, including: physical factors, psychological factors,beliefs and religion, social relationships, instability in life and strategies. These were encompassed in thecore category of ‘motherhood experience’Conclusion : An identification experience of infertility is essential to develop appropriate consultingservices. Due to the impact of various factors on the experience of infertile women, similar studies arerecommended in different cultures

کلیدواژه ها:

Experiences of infertility ، phenomenological study ، qualitative research