Background: Infertility is one of the health problems that currently affects about 20% of couples in Iran. The purpose of this study was to identify the obstacles and consequences of Iranian infertile couples during assisted reproductive treatment.
Methods: For the investigation of this issue, a qualitative approach and a qualitative content analysis method were used. According to the theoretical foundations and background of the research, the purposeful sampling method was used to interview people. This study involved conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 32 infertile individuals, 22 of whom were women and 10 were men. The interviews continued until reaching the principle of theoretical saturation and not extracting and emerging a new concept from the data.
Findings: Obstacles and strategies in the present study are categorized into nine selective codes, 30 central codes, and 114 open codes in the general concept of an "uneven path to understanding the sense of motherhood and fatherhood". The consequences were defined by individual-internal, physical, family, and marital codes. Obstacles are also categorized by economic, socio-cultural, marital, religious codes, and unpredictable events.
Conclusion: The results showed that infertile couples struggle with many problems during fertility treatment, and various consequences occur during the treatment. Therefore, these people need attention from society, family, and health systems, and there is a need to have a multi-faceted view of people during the treatment so that this path is less challenging.