Psychosocial oncofertility issues faced by adolescents and young adults over their lifetime: a review of the research

Abstract

This review considers psychosocial oncofertility research relevant to adolescents and young adults over their lifetime. There is growing awareness of the fertility preservation needs of younger males including lowering practical barriers and attending to emotional impact. Despite decisional challenges facing females – the experimental nature of procedures, time involved and potential involvement of partners/donors (for embryo cryopreservation) – findings suggest they too benefit from fertility information at diagnosis and access to fertility specialists. Studies consistently report that fertility concerns affect well-being, relationships and life planning. Both genders thus want fertility issues to be raised proactively by professionals in the years following diagnosis: to help them make informed decisions at a time relevant to them, develop coping strategies for current and future related areas and to be referred to specialist and/or therapeutic help if needed. little is known about why cancer survivors are less likely to marry or have children, or about their parenthood experiences.     

Engaging parents through gaze: Speaker selection in three-party interactions in maternity clinics

Objective

Describing and analyzing speaker selection in conversations between the health nurse and parents in maternity clinics.

Methods

The data consisted of ten video-recorded encounters in maternity clinics. Using conversation analysis, we investigated 89 sequences of interaction in which the health nurse asks a question that is verbally addressed to both parents.

Results

There was an observable pattern of selecting mothers as principal respondents by all participants of the encounters in maternity clinics. In a few deviant cases, fathers were selected as principal respondents. A typical practice of speaker selection was the gaze direction of the health nurse towards the recipient (usually the mother) at the closure of her question. Various situational elements also influenced which one of the parents answered the question. The deviant cases in which fathers were selected as principal respondents were mainly explainable by the use of the questionnaire designed to facilitate talking about psycho-social issues connected with the transition to parenthood.

Conclusion

Particular interactional circumstances and practices can break the pattern of selecting mothers as respondents to questions addressed to both parents.

Practice implications

Fathers could easily be engaged in conversations through gaze. Also the questionnaire seems promising in engaging fathers in conversations in clinics.     

Ambivalence in decisions about childbearing

We analysed associations of sociodemographic variables, goals, values of children, and partner variables with ambivalence about childbearing and desired number of children in 267 young adults. Ambivalence was associated with lower perceived importance of parenthood, higher importance of prosperity, higher perceived costs of having children, lack of a positive attitude of the partner toward parenthood, and sociodemographic variables. Individuals with high levels of ambivalence were more likely to postpone the decision, and postponing predicted a lower number of desired children.     

Parenting and Maternal Substance Addiction: Factors Affecting Utilization of Child Protective Services

The purpose of this study is to identify which personal, familial, environmental, and social factors are associated with the utilization of child protection services, including parental support programs, by mothers who misuse illicit substances. Participants are 56 mothers with substance use and addiction-related problems, of whom 32 were receiving, voluntarily or otherwise, child protection services while 24 mothers had psychotropic drug use-related problems but were receiving no psychosocial services. Data were collected in the province of Quebec, Canada, between August 1998 and August . Results indicate that mothers who receive services are younger, have fewer interpersonal resources, live in lower socioeconomic conditions, and have greater family dysfunction (less parental supervision and more inconsistent discipline) than mothers who do not receive services from child protection agencies. However, there are no significant differences between groups with regards to maternal childhood trauma, psychological distress, antisocial behavior and the quality of the parent–child bond. The results of this study suggest that although both groups misuse drugs and have personal difficulties, some mothers will not need support from social services to take care of their children. Implications of these findings for prevention are discussed. The study's limitations are noted.     

Counselling and selection of homosexual couples in fertility treatment

Artificial insemination with anonymous donor sperm (AID) is a widespread practice for heterosexual couples in which the male partner appears to be infertile. The Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the Brussels University teaching hospital has been one of the first to extend this form of therapy to lesbian couples. In the course of the past 7 years, 27 lesbian couples have come to the centre with a request for AID. The question of whether children can be brought up within such a frame of reference cannot be dissociated from the question of attitudes towards homosexuality as such. Such attitudes still solicit a whole range of controversial reactions. This paper will deal with the most important findings from investigations thus far carried out on the issue of homosexual parenthood. It also sets out the selection criteria used in the evaluation of applicants. A profile of the homosexual couples selected will be presented, with particular attention to their social status, their psychosexual development and their motivation towards parenthood.     

A pilot evaluation of the EMBU Scale in Japan and the USA

Cultural differences in parental attitudes and child-rearing practices among European countries have been demonstrated in previous studies using a scale for assessment of memories of upbringing (the EMBU). In this pilot study we evaluated the EMBU in two previously unstudied populations: a culturally homogenous sample from Japan (n=105) and a culturally mixed sample from Southern California (n= 73). The results suggest that, compared to European parents, Japanese parents are more emotionally distant from their children, while the Southern Californians as a group scored similarly to the Europeans. Further studies are needed in order to establish the EMBU as a transcultural tool for assessment of parental rearing behaviour.     

Formal and informal sources of paternal support in early parenthood

ABSTRACT

Extra-familial support has been proven to be an important resource for families during early parenthood, but little attention has been paid to what supports should be available for fathers specifically and how fathers perceive different sources of support during early parenthood in the twenty-first century. This study examined Finnish fathers’ (N?=?1069) regarding the following topics: (a) the support sources perceived as primary by the fathers and (b) the association between the father’s socio-economic status (SES) and his overall need for extra-familial support and (c) the association between the father’s SES, family structure and the perceived level of instrumental support sources available for parenting and childcare tasks. Most of the fathers’ perceptions highlight the role played by informal support sources in providing assistance for parenting and childcare. The results of binary logistic regression suggest that fathers of lower SES are more likely to have an increased need for extra-familial support.