A review of psychosocial and family functioning following assisted reproductive treatment

Summary Assisted reproductive intervention is an increasingly popular choice fol-lowing a diagnosis of infertility and has inspired researchers to consider the implica-tions of successful treatment on families, both in the short and long term. A wellfunctioning health care system will meet the global needs of the society itresources, including its relatively healthy population utilizing health care to improvethe quality of their life through fertility treatment. This review addresses the wel-fare and needs identified in studies of parents and children following assisted repro-ductive intervention, in an attempt to determine if these are supported by thehealth or social care systems. The literature was searched using electronic dat-abases and book searches. Few significant differences have been found betweenAssisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) families and naturally conceiving familiesand when differences were found they were generally within the normal range.Studies tended to be cross sectional rather than longitudinal, and evaluations of cul-tural differences are not reported. In general, research findings are reassuring toART parents, their offspring, those considering assisted reproductive treatmentand health care professionals. What is lacking is research into the functioning ofcouples giving up unsuccessfully.c
SummaryAssisted reproductive intervention is an increasingly popular choice fol-lowing a diagnosis of infertility and has inspired researchers to consider the implica-tions of successful treatment on families, both in the short and long term. A wellfunctioning health care system will meet the global needs of the society itresources, including its relatively healthy population utilizing health care to improvethe quality of their life through fertility treatment. This review addresses the wel-fare and needs identified in studies of parents and children following assisted repro-ductive intervention, in an attempt to determine if these are supported by thehealth or social care systems. The literature was searched using electronic dat-abases and book searches. Few significant differences have been found betweenAssisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) families and naturally conceiving familiesand when differences were found they were generally within the normal range.Studies tended to be cross sectional rather than longitudinal, and evaluations of cul-tural differences are not reported. In general, research findings are reassuring toART parents, their offspring, those considering assisted reproductive treatmentand health care professionals. What is lacking is research into the functioning ofcouples giving up unsuccessfully.c