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Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis

BACKGROUND: The introduction of home digital ovulation tests (OTs) has provided a simple solution for women wishing to optimise the timing of intercourse when trying to conceive. However, despite this, very little is understood about women’s experiences of using these tests. METHODS: We carried out...

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Autores principales: Jones, Georgina, Carlton, Jill, Weddell, Sarah, Johnson, Sarah, Ledger, William L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687078/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26689590
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-015-0103-y
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author Jones, Georgina
Carlton, Jill
Weddell, Sarah
Johnson, Sarah
Ledger, William L.
author_facet Jones, Georgina
Carlton, Jill
Weddell, Sarah
Johnson, Sarah
Ledger, William L.
author_sort Jones, Georgina
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The introduction of home digital ovulation tests (OTs) has provided a simple solution for women wishing to optimise the timing of intercourse when trying to conceive. However, despite this, very little is understood about women’s experiences of using these tests. METHODS: We carried out qualitative, semi-structured telephone interviews with women who were seeking to conceive (not actively undergoing clinical investigation/fertility treatment) from the general UK population. The interviews were conducted following participation in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which participants were either provided with digital home OTs to assist in timing intercourse (n = 18) or advised to have intercourse every 2–3 days (n = 18). The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and then analysed using Framework analysis to identify the themes. RESULTS: Data saturation was reached after 36 interviews. The use of the OT appeared to elicit 10 key themes, which could be described within the context of three overarching issues: 1) a positive impact (understanding the menstrual cycle, confirming when ovulating, emotional support, improving the relationship), 2) a negative impact (changing sex life and relationship with their partner, the emotional consequences of prolonged use, questions and uncertainty about what their results mean for them) and 3) the experiences of trying to conceive in general (use of clinical guidance and emotional experience). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the use of home OTs were found to affect women’s thoughts and feelings in multiple ways during attempts to conceive. Although some women reported a range of negative experiences when using OTs, they also reported similar negative experiences when trying to conceive without using the tests. However, there were many positive themes associated with OT use, including an increased understanding of the menstrual cycle, confirmation of ovulation timing and providing a source of help and support when trying to conceive. Overall, when women are trying to conceive, ensuring they have access to high-quality information, including use of OT, may be of benefit to help address some of the questions and uncertainties that were raised by the participants in this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01084304 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12978-015-0103-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-46870782015-12-23 Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis Jones, Georgina Carlton, Jill Weddell, Sarah Johnson, Sarah Ledger, William L. Reprod Health Research BACKGROUND: The introduction of home digital ovulation tests (OTs) has provided a simple solution for women wishing to optimise the timing of intercourse when trying to conceive. However, despite this, very little is understood about women’s experiences of using these tests. METHODS: We carried out qualitative, semi-structured telephone interviews with women who were seeking to conceive (not actively undergoing clinical investigation/fertility treatment) from the general UK population. The interviews were conducted following participation in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which participants were either provided with digital home OTs to assist in timing intercourse (n = 18) or advised to have intercourse every 2–3 days (n = 18). The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and then analysed using Framework analysis to identify the themes. RESULTS: Data saturation was reached after 36 interviews. The use of the OT appeared to elicit 10 key themes, which could be described within the context of three overarching issues: 1) a positive impact (understanding the menstrual cycle, confirming when ovulating, emotional support, improving the relationship), 2) a negative impact (changing sex life and relationship with their partner, the emotional consequences of prolonged use, questions and uncertainty about what their results mean for them) and 3) the experiences of trying to conceive in general (use of clinical guidance and emotional experience). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the use of home OTs were found to affect women’s thoughts and feelings in multiple ways during attempts to conceive. Although some women reported a range of negative experiences when using OTs, they also reported similar negative experiences when trying to conceive without using the tests. However, there were many positive themes associated with OT use, including an increased understanding of the menstrual cycle, confirmation of ovulation timing and providing a source of help and support when trying to conceive. Overall, when women are trying to conceive, ensuring they have access to high-quality information, including use of OT, may be of benefit to help address some of the questions and uncertainties that were raised by the participants in this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01084304 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12978-015-0103-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2015-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC4687078/ /pubmed/26689590 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-015-0103-y Text en © Jones et al. 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Jones, Georgina
Carlton, Jill
Weddell, Sarah
Johnson, Sarah
Ledger, William L.
Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title_full Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title_fullStr Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title_full_unstemmed Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title_short Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
title_sort women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687078/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26689590
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12978-015-0103-y
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