Exploring the positive and negative aspects of social interactions on the mental well-being of infertile women in Japan.

Researchers have identified the main positive and negative influences that social groups  have on women in Japan who are infertile, findings they say should be used to enhance  healthcare for these women.

Social interactions are key to psychologic health in the general population and probably even more important to infertile women, explain study authors Yuri Akizuki (Shukutoku University, Chiba, Japan) and Ichiro Kai (University of Tokyo, Japan).

Conventional views on having children in Japan mean many infertile women there experience negative social interactions, the investigators say. However, they add: “There has been very little systematic research on variations of positive and negative social interactions.”

Akizuki and Kai therefore asked 24 infertile women, aged an average of 35.5 years, about interactions they had had with individuals other than their partners that had made them feel either better or worse about their infertility.

The interviews yielded nine key negative social interaction categories and nine positive categories. Negative interactions included prying, offering inappropriate advice, and avoiding contact. Positive categories included being receptive to discussion about infertility, showing general concern, and not prying.

The investigators conclude that their findings should be used by healthcare workers to help them develop supportive social environments for the infertile women they care for.