Women's infertility: challenges for practice.
Infertility is an issue for men and women but it is women who experience the majority of the diagnostic and treatment procedures. Nurses and midwives care for women in a variety of settings in which infertility is managed. This management is currently characterised by an escalation in related technologies and there is the potential for prolonged and complex endeavours to achieve a pregnancy. This paper reviews some pertinent literature from nursing, medicine, feminist scholars and the popular press to consider the ways in which infertility is understood and experienced. The challenge for nurses and midwives is in negotiating the differing perspectives in order to provide appropriate care to each individual woman as she experiences infertility and its management.
Carryer
J
J
Dept. of Nursing and Midwifery, Massey University.
Maclean
S
S
D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D009721:Nurse Midwives; D011247:Pregnancy; D011322:Primary Prevention