Infertility among low-income Latinos.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the experience of infertility among low-income Latinos.


METHODS
Ethnographic qualitative interview study.


METHODS
Academic research environment.


METHODS
One hundred eighteen Latinos who sought medical care for infertility.


METHODS
Tape-recorded interviews with 88 women and 30 men were transcribed and analyzed for emergent themes.


METHODS
Cultural beliefs regarding fertility and infertility, the value placed on having children, access to and use of health care resources, and non-biomedical approaches to having children.


RESULTS
Latino women and men believed that children were the basis of the marital relationship and that childless marriages were considered a failure. No couples had the economic resources to pursue medical treatment beyond a basic level. A difference was found in approaches to infertility treatment between women raised in the United States and those raised elsewhere, with those raised in the United States being more assertive in seeking care. Women frequently saw practitioners of Western biomedicine and humoral medicine. Women reported that they would continue trying to conceive until they reached menopause.


CONCLUSIONS
Infertility is a devastating experience for Latinos that has far-reaching effects, both on women and men individually and on the couple relationship.
Institute for Health and Aging, University of California-San Francisco, California 94118, USA. gay.becker@ucsf.edu
Gay
G
Becker
Martha
M
Castrillo
Rebecca
R
Jackson
Robert D
RD
Nachtigall
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D012495:San Francisco / Q000208:ethnology