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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
07:56

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

Parents' concerns regarding their ART children

L J Fisher-Jeffes1, I Banerjee, A G Sutcliffe

  • 1Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London, Department of Community Child Health, Royal Free Campus, Rowland Hill Street, London NW3 2PF.

Reproduction (Cambridge, England)
|February 3, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Parents of children conceived via assisted reproductive therapy (ART) expressed concerns, primarily regarding their child's future fertility. Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) parents raised these questions more often than in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) parents.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive Medicine
  • Pediatric Development
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Assisted reproductive therapy (ART) encompasses in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
  • Long-term follow-up studies are crucial for understanding the developmental and health outcomes of ART-conceived children.
  • Parental concerns can provide valuable insights into the psychosocial aspects of ART conception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate parental concerns regarding children conceived through ART.
  • To identify specific themes of parental questioning related to ART conception.
  • To compare concerns between IVF and ICSI conceived children.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of ART-conceived children from a National Child Development Study was assessed.
  • Parents were surveyed to identify concerns about their ART-conceived child.
  • Response rate was 90% (329 replies), with 86 families posing additional questions.

Main Results:

  • 26% of responding parents raised concerns about their ART-conceived child.
  • The most frequent concern (8% of all respondents) related to the child's future fertility.
  • Parents of ICSI-conceived children were more likely to ask about future fertility than IVF parents.

Conclusions:

  • While most parents had no specific concerns, a notable minority did.
  • Future fertility is a significant parental concern for ART-conceived children, particularly those conceived via ICSI.
  • Further research is warranted to address parental anxieties surrounding ART and long-term child outcomes.

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