Annabelle Ahlers, “Reconceiving Infertility: Understanding Men’s Experience and Identity”
Mentor: Maria Novotny, English
Poster #4

Infertility, as defined by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, is “the result of a disease of the male or female reproductive tract which prevents the conception of a child or the ability to carry a pregnancy to delivery,” Despite impacting 1 in 6 couples in America, infertility is still a topic that is approached from the female perspective. This perspective is incomplete as infertility is due in part to male and female factor infertility and male partners or spouses of infertile people may identify as infertile. This SURF research project looks at infertility from a male perspective. Funding from SURF allowed for a two-part research project. Part one of this project the student PI began by creating a literature review of books that were a collection of autobiographies, anthologies, and other informative texts on infertility that shed light on what infertility is as a disease and an identity. After this initial research, the student PI noticed the absence of the male perspective in infertility literature. As a result, part two of the research focused on the student creating an online survey that investigates how men understand infertility as an identity. This survey is currently under IRB review. It is hoped that upon IRB approval, this survey will provide data that will reveal the unique mental health needs of men who identify with infertility and greater understanding into how they receive emotional support for their infertility.  Ultimately, the purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding as to how men experience infertility, what emotions result from their diagnosis, and to identify gaps in emotional support for infertile men.