Experiences of involuntary childlessness during the Covid-19 pandemic
Facts
- Contact person:
- Eva Elmerstig
- Financer:
-
- Interreg European Regional Development Fund
- Responsible at MaU:
- Eva Elmerstig
- Project members at MaU:
- Time frame:
- 01 May 2021 - 31 December 2023
- Faculty/department:
- Research environment :
- Research subject:
- Website:
- https://reprounion.eu/
About the project
The overall purpose of our study is to shed light on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected individuals who are undergoing or have undergone assessment or treatment for involuntary childlessness, and their processes of trying to have children. The international research on involuntary childlessness in relation to the pandemic is mainly medical and quantitative. There is a lack of qualitative interview studies that explore the subject area on a more in-depth level. By conducting interviews with people who are undergoing or have undergone assessment or treatment for involuntary childlessness, we want to increase the understanding of how their process of trying to have children has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study will include people who are under or have undergone assessment or treatment for involuntary childlessness in Skåne and the Copenhagen region during the pandemic. The interviews will address experiences of assessment and treatment of involuntary childlessness during the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to e.g. access to care, socioeconomic factors and intimate relationships. With this study, we want to contribute to the development of health-promoting information and care related to fertility, and reproductive and sexual health. The knowledge gained from this research project can be used by researchers, sexologists, midwives, physicians, psychologists and counselors who work with issues of involuntary childlessness and who meet people who are undergoing investigation or treatment.
The study is a subproject in ReproUnion; a comprehensive EU health project where the overall aim is to gain an increased understanding, preventing and improving the treatment of involuntary childlessness by conducting research and coordination of knowledge across national borders in Denmark and Sweden (www.reprounion.eu).