A Survey on the Current Status and Demands of Infertility Counseling Towards the Development of an Infertility Counseling Delivery System

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the current status and demands of domestic infertility counseling and to investigate the predictors of infertile women’s needs for infertility counseling in order to improve the development of an infertility counseling delivery system.Methods: A total of 1,131 infertile Korean women from 116 public health centers, 2 infertility clinics, a counseling center of a demonstration project and an online infertility café participated in the study. A selfreport survey was utilized to collect data, including medical information and infertility counseling requirements. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a 1-way analysis of variance, and stepwise multiple regression.Results: The utilization rate of infertility counseling was 3.8%, with 81.6% of those who received counseling reporting that they were satisfied with the infertility counseling. Of the participants, 88.1% reported a high demand for infertility counseling and were found to have a higher need for counseling if they had higher incomes, were married for longer, were infertile longer, or were undergoing in vitro fertilization. Stepwise regression analyses showed that high level of psychological distress was a significant predictor for the need for infertility counseling.Conclusion: In order to develop a client-centered infertility counseling delivery system, the levels of psychological distress of infertile women must be assessed and the development of a stepped care approach is proposed.