IVF staff attitudes towards oocyte donation: a multi-centric study from Iran and Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this descriptive study was to evaluate the attitudes and knowledge of IVF staff towards oocyte donation (OD) programme. A total of 163 individuals (19% men and 81% women) were requested to fill out a two-part questionnaire. Part 1 of the questionnaire contained general demographic information: 62% of the participants were married; the majority of the subjects had university education; 21% of the participants had high school degrees. Part 2 contained 20 questions to reveal the knowledge and attitudes of the participants concerning OD: 16% completely objected to OD; 50% of the married couples and 68% of the single individuals disagreed with OD treatment for themselves, even if they remained childless. Most participants believed in informing the general public about OD in the mass media. In addition, nearly half of the participants were in favour of OD over adopting a child. Psychological counselling was strongly recommended by the majority of respondents for both donors and the recipients. The majority of participants in the study had a positive attitude towards OD treatment for infertile couples. In addition, counselling can play a major role in OD programme. Therefore, the health professionals should advance the OD programmes for informing the staff of infertility centres and infertile patients.