Exploring Iranian Women’s Perceptions and Experiences of Their Spouses’ Behavior towards Male Factor Infertility: A Qualitative Study

Background: Infertility, as a life crisis, affects women more than men, even when women are not infertile. Objective: This study was conducted aimed at exploring Iranian women’s perceptions and experiences of their husbands’ behavior towards male factor infertility. Methods: This qualitative study was performed using content analysis. A purposeful sampling method was employed and continued until data saturation for women who had referred to Milad Fertility Clinic and Health Care Centers within the time period of 2014-2015 in Mashhad, Iran, with their husbands being infertile. Thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 women. Conventional content analysis was employed to analyze the data. Besides, Lincoln and Guba's evaluative criteria were utilized to check the trustworthiness of the study. Results: Perceived spousal emotional distress was the main topic of the study, which consisted of two subgroups, i.e., 1- husbands’ chaotic emotions with the sub-categories, including the “feelings of inferiority and incompetence”, “isolationism in life”, “irritability and arrogance”, “pessimism and cynicism”, as well as “anxiety and aggression”, and 2- husbands’ reluctance to seek treatment, including “inattention to medical prescriptions”, “resistance to the sperm analysis test”, and “opposition to the assisted reproductive technology and adoption”. Conclusion: Male infertility can lead to marital problems and mistreatment of women. Hence, supportive and preventive measures are required to improve the conditions of such women.