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Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility

INTRODUCTION: Infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes an important social and public health problem. Yet, there is a paucity of research on the experiences of men living with infertility, especially in West Africa. This study explored men’s aetiological knowledge, views and experiences of infe...

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Autores principales: Dierickx, Susan, Oruko, Kelvin Onyango, Clarke, Ed, Ceesay, Sainey, Pacey, Allan, Balen, Julie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629172/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34843498
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260084
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author Dierickx, Susan
Oruko, Kelvin Onyango
Clarke, Ed
Ceesay, Sainey
Pacey, Allan
Balen, Julie
author_facet Dierickx, Susan
Oruko, Kelvin Onyango
Clarke, Ed
Ceesay, Sainey
Pacey, Allan
Balen, Julie
author_sort Dierickx, Susan
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes an important social and public health problem. Yet, there is a paucity of research on the experiences of men living with infertility, especially in West Africa. This study explored men’s aetiological knowledge, views and experiences of infertility in the West Coast region of The Gambia, West Africa. METHODOLOGY: An explorative qualitative study was conducted among men living in the rural and urban communities of the West Coast region of The Gambia using in-depth interviews. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently, and thematic data analysis was an iterative process carried out using NVivo 11 Analysis Software. RESULTS: Gambian men had generally poor knowledge of infertility, allocating it to God, spiritual powers and bodily (biomedical) factors. While societal norms meant that infertility was generally attributed to women, some men allocated male-factor infertility to poor sperm quality and impotence. Infertility threatened participants’ sense of masculinity and resulted in psychosocial distress, including stigma, feelings of isolation, and low self-esteem. CONCLUSION: Normative gendered frameworks of infertility result in high levels of female responsibilisation in the Gambian context. Yet men diagnosed with infertility experience significant, often unrecognized, psychological and social distress. We therefore call for increased attention to male-factor infertility, and the promotion of male engagement with infertility-care and services, both of which are essential for successfully addressing infertility and it’s psychosocial consequences in The Gambia.
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spelling pubmed-86291722021-11-30 Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility Dierickx, Susan Oruko, Kelvin Onyango Clarke, Ed Ceesay, Sainey Pacey, Allan Balen, Julie PLoS One Research Article INTRODUCTION: Infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes an important social and public health problem. Yet, there is a paucity of research on the experiences of men living with infertility, especially in West Africa. This study explored men’s aetiological knowledge, views and experiences of infertility in the West Coast region of The Gambia, West Africa. METHODOLOGY: An explorative qualitative study was conducted among men living in the rural and urban communities of the West Coast region of The Gambia using in-depth interviews. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently, and thematic data analysis was an iterative process carried out using NVivo 11 Analysis Software. RESULTS: Gambian men had generally poor knowledge of infertility, allocating it to God, spiritual powers and bodily (biomedical) factors. While societal norms meant that infertility was generally attributed to women, some men allocated male-factor infertility to poor sperm quality and impotence. Infertility threatened participants’ sense of masculinity and resulted in psychosocial distress, including stigma, feelings of isolation, and low self-esteem. CONCLUSION: Normative gendered frameworks of infertility result in high levels of female responsibilisation in the Gambian context. Yet men diagnosed with infertility experience significant, often unrecognized, psychological and social distress. We therefore call for increased attention to male-factor infertility, and the promotion of male engagement with infertility-care and services, both of which are essential for successfully addressing infertility and it’s psychosocial consequences in The Gambia. Public Library of Science 2021-11-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8629172/ /pubmed/34843498 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260084 Text en © 2021 Dierickx et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dierickx, Susan
Oruko, Kelvin Onyango
Clarke, Ed
Ceesay, Sainey
Pacey, Allan
Balen, Julie
Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title_full Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title_fullStr Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title_full_unstemmed Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title_short Men and infertility in The Gambia: Limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
title_sort men and infertility in the gambia: limited biomedical knowledge and awareness discourage male involvement and exacerbate gender-based impacts of infertility
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8629172/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34843498
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260084
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