Infertility patients' beliefs about their embryos and their disposition preferences.
BACKGROUND
Little research has been done on how beliefs of infertility patients about their embryos are related to their disposition decisions. The objective of this study was to describe how patients speak about their embryos, in moral (e.g. status) and non-moral terms, and to investigate how patients' narratives are related to their disposition preferences.


METHODS
In-depth interviews based on the method of interpretative phenomenological analysis were conducted with patients undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment between May and July 2006.


RESULTS
Seven couples and 11 female patients were interviewed. Six major themes emerged from the narratives of the participants when they spoke about their embryos: (i) a medical-technical perspective; (ii) feelings; (iii) genetic link to oneself and/or one's partner; (iv) symbolic meaning of the relationship between the infertile partners; (v) moral status and (vi) instrumental value. All but two participants spontaneously considered the embryo disposition options as a two-stage decision sequence. In the first step, they considered donation to another couple for reproductive purposes. At this stage, the presence of the themes 'genetic link' and 'symbol of the relationship' was linked with a clear reluctance to donate. In the second step of the decision-making process, the option of donation for research and discarding were considered. At this stage, participants' confidence in medical science and the instrumental value they attached to the embryo were related to their decisions.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients' conceptualization of their embryos plays an important role in embryo disposition decisions. Our research showed that patients deal with these decisions in a two-stage decision sequence.
Provoost
V
V
Bioethics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2 B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. veerle.provoost@ugent.be
Pennings
G
G
De Sutter
P
P
Gerris
J
J
Van de Velde
A
A
De Lissnyder
E
E
Dhont
M
M
D000328:Adult; D015925:Cryopreservation; D003469:Culture; D003657:Decision Making; D019924:Embryo Disposition / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult