Abstract
Women who face age-related fertility decline have the option to safeguard future reproductive potential by banking oocytes or ovarian tissue. What are the methods that women prefer and what factors are important in their decision-making? Qualitative interview study, participants were recruited through monthly information sessions at a university hospital on oocyte banking, postings on social media, websites and newsletters and snowball sampling. Women had to be aged 35 years or older, single, childless and with a possible future desire for motherhood. Key concepts of the Health Belief Model were used as framework for the analyses. In total, 15 women participated in this qualitative study. For oocyte banking, they mentioned chances of success, extra time and faith in the technique and healthcare professionals as benefits. Risks for themselves or future children and costs were considered to be barriers in decision making. For ovarian tissue banking, the chances of success, the possibility of natural conception, the time investment and effect on menopausal symptoms were seen as benefits, and lack of experience and lack of information were considered barriers for themselves or their future children. Overall, they considered the procedures involved in oocyte banking as relatively 'easy', whereas ovarian tissue banking was seen as a more invasive procedure. Most women preferred oocyte banking over ovarian tissue banking because of its relative convenience. Future quantitative research in a larger cohort is necessary to confirm the findings and provide more insight into the relative importance of the different factors influencing women's decision.
Highlights
The trend of delaying motherhood las led to more women facing subfertility at an advanced age (Schmidt et al, 2012)
The chances of success, the possibility of natural conception, the time investment and effect on menopausal symptoms were seen as benefits, and lack of experience and lack of information were considered barriers for themselves or their future children
They considered the procedures involved in oocyte banking as relatively ‘easy’, whereas ovarian tissue banking was seen as a more invasive procedure
Summary
The trend of delaying motherhood las led to more women facing subfertility at an advanced age (Schmidt et al, 2012). Two methods for female fertility preservation are available: oocyte banking and ovarian tissue banking. In a Swedish survey (Wennberg et al, 2016), 70% of 987 randomly selected women aged 30–39 years had a positive attitude towards oocyte banking for age-related fertility decline. A survey in Belgium (Stoop et al, 2011) reported that 323 of 1024 women aged between 21 and 40 years (32%) would consider themselves as potential oocyte bankers. Most women who banked oocytes had done so to preserve future reproductive potential and to have more time available to find a suitable partner or to remove the pressure to find a partner (Stoop et al, 2011; HodesWertz et al, 2013; Stoop et al, 2014; Waldby, 2015)
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