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. 2009 Oct 1;58(4):431-444.
doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2009.00564.x.

Partnered Decisions? U.S. Couples and Medical Help-seeking for Infertility

Katherine M Johnson  1 , David R Johnson
Affiliations

Partnered Decisions? U.S. Couples and Medical Help-seeking for Infertility

Katherine M Johnson et al. Fam Relat. .

Abstract

We examined male partners' influence on the decision to seek medical help for infertility using from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers. Building upon an existing help-seeking framework, we incorporated characteristics of both partners from 219 heterosexual couples who had ever perceived a fertility problem. In logistic regression analyses, we found an association between couple-level attitudes and medical help-seeking even when other predisposing and enabling conditions existed. Overall, the findings highlight that both partners contribute to the infertility help-seeking process, and that different factors may play a role in different stages of help-seeking. Studies of infertility help-seeking need to be more inclusive of the context that these decisions are embedded within to better understand service use.

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