Infertile couples' perceptions of infertility support-group participation

Although nursing authors recommend that infertile clients be referred to infertility support groups, no study has identified the benefits of participation in such groups. This exploratory descriptive study investigated the benefits of infertility support-group participation as perceived by 16 men and 22 women. A questionnaire developed and used for the study consisted of open- and closed-ended questions and included a 42-item Infertility Support Group Perception Scale for which an internal consistency reliability of .91 was established. Most important, least important, anticipated, and unanticipated benefits perceived by the total group, male and female subgroups, and participation subgroups were explored. We found that significantly fewer men than women initially wanted to join the group (p less than .01), but both men and women perceived similar amounts of benefit. Anticipated and unanticipated benefits differed between men and women. Length of membership and frequency of attendance were both positively correlated with amount of benefits perceived.