Determining the Cultural Care Needs of Infertile Couples in Turkey: A Qualitative Study Guided by the Cultural...

The cultural competence model is an ethnographic model created to improve the cultural understanding of people's status in the context of health, health promotion and illness. This study aimed to use the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence for determining the cultural care needs of couples undergoing infertility treatment. This study with a qualitative design was conducted at a private in vitro fertilization center in eastern Turkey. The sample of the study consisted of 10 infertile couples with unexplained infertility problems (n = 20). The 12 cultural domains were used as a basis in determining the cultural care needs of the infertile couples, and these domains formed the themes. Data were collected using the method of interpretative phenomenological analysis. The emotions defined in the "spirituality" theme were "seeing it as destiny or seeing it as a test to be passed in terms of religion" and "visiting holy tombs, applying to faith healers and making vows." The first three emotions that came to the fore in the "pregnancy and childbearing" theme were "feelings of deficiency/illness/stigmatization," "deterioration in body image" and "unsatisfactory inability to feel love for own child." In the "healthcare practitioners" theme, it was determined that compliance with treatment was partially sufficient, but the religious-cultural influence was high.