THEORETICAL PAPER
The social infertility cycle model
1
Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Submission date: 2023-05-22
Final revision date: 2023-08-11
Acceptance date: 2023-08-12
Online publication date: 2023-10-04
Corresponding author
Alicja Malina
Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
psychological aspects of illnesspsychosocial factors in the etiology of illnesseshealth attitudes and behavior
ABSTRACT
Infertility poses an immense challenge to contemporary society. Around one in six people worldwide trying to conceive a child are facing infertility. This situation exists in an age of great technological developments where advances in medicine have made infertility treatment widely available and increasingly effective. In this article, a model will be presented that aims to explain the individual and social functioning of individuals and couples undergoing infertility treatment using assist-ed reproductive methods. The model was developed on the basis of a series of studies carried out by the author and col-leagues during 2015-2021. The social infertility cycle model was proposed as the outcome of further research steps that were taken. The model takes into consideration the factors and behaviours of couples with infertility that determine the quality of their everyday functioning as well as the effectiveness of infertility treatment. The successive steps of the research process will be outlined in the article along with a presentation of the developed model.
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