Narrative Study of the Significance of Infertility and Its Treatment for Maternal Identity

To explore how women who experienced infertility and underwent fertility treatments constructed maternal identities after they successfully gave birth.

Narrative qualitative study.

Finland, Scandinavia.

Twenty-six previously infertile Finnish women who later conceived were recruited via social media, health clinics, and relevant informal support organizations.

Narrative analysis was used to process written accounts and individual episodic interviews with each of the 26 women.

Four different identity stories emerged from the data: Fractured Maternity, Pursuing Maternity, Learning Maternity, and Discovering Maternity. Infertility, its treatment, and childbirth were narrated as turning points in the participants' life courses, but the significance of these turning points for maternal identity varied across the four stories.

These findings have important implications for nursing practice. Health care professionals should be aware of the effects of previous long-standing infertility on the subsequent experience of motherhood so they can provide women with understanding, sufficient support, and appropriate interventions throughout the transition to motherhood.