Frank M. Andrews’s research while affiliated with Wayne State University and other places

A longitudinal study examined perceptions of received and provided social support and disregard among members of 248 infertile and fertile married couples. Correlational and structural equation modeling analyses were conducted. Women's and men's perceptions of the amount of social support they gave to and received from their partner were highly positively related. In contrast, agreement between spouses about the amount of provided support was moderate. Both social support and disregard mediated the relationships between stress and marital quality of life. Overall, highly similar patterns of results were found for members of infertile and fertile couples. These results demonstrate the perceptual element of received support and disregard as well as the importance of considering the provider's perspective.

A longitudinal study examined perceptions of received and provided social support and disregard among members of 248 infertile and fertile married couples. Correlational and structural equation modeling analyses were conducted. Women's and men's perceptions of the amount of social support they gave to and received from their partner were highly positively related. In contrast, agreement between spouses about the amount of provided support was moderate. Both social support and disregard mediated the relationships between stress and marital quality of life. Overall, highly similar patterns of results were found for members of infertile and fertile couples. These results demonstrate the perceptual element of received support and disregard as well as the importance of considering the provider's perspective.

Objective: To explore gender dierences and responses of in fertile couples to childbearing issues. Design: Data analysis from the first wave of a larger three wave prospective panel study. Face-to-face tnterviews with both husbands and wives were conducted. Setting: Husbands and wives were interviewed separately in their homes. One was generally interviewed immediately after the other. Participants: One hundred sixty-one infert ile couples in southeastern Michigan were interviewed in 1988. Measures: Variables of interest included the self recognized source of the fertility problem, the tmportance of children to individuals, stress associated with infertility treatment, the number of tests and treatments received, the acceptabiltty of indicated treatments, the length of time couples expected it would take to have a child, and the ideal and expected number of children. Results: Women experienced signijcantly more stress from tests and treatment, placed greater importance on havtng children, were more accepting of indicated treatments, and wanted more children than men did. Conclusions: Implications for nurses working with in fertile couples are discussed, including provision of emotional support, evaluation of perceptions of success, assessment of couples' expectations, and inclusion of husbands in decision making.

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the effects of infertility on marital and global life quality with wives and husbands from 174 infertile couples and a comparison group of 74 fertile couples. By the third interview, 42% of the infertile couples and 36% of the fertile couples were parents. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were completed. The psychosocial predictors of life quality were highly similar for members of infertile and fertile couples and for couples with and without children. In multivariate analyses, being a parent was associated with increased global life quality for infertile women and diminished marital life quality for everyone except fertile men. These results replicate and extend past research.

There is a large literature that demonstrates that infertility has a variety of negative effects on women's and men's well-being, but little is known about the impact of becoming a parent. The effects of parenthood were examined in a longitudinal study with both wives and husbands from 174 infertile couples and a comparison group of 74 presumed fertile couples. Infertile women who became parents experienced greater global well-being but diminished marital well-being, compared with infertile women who had not become parents. Infertile men who became parents experienced the same negative effects that their wives reported, but they did not experience positive effects to the same extent. Parental status had fewer positive and negative effects on members of presumed-fertile couples. These results are discussed in terms of gender differences in the meaning of parenthood, and their implications for research and clinical services are considered.

To determine which factors relate to satisfaction with infertility treatment. A prospective structured interview research design was used. In-person and telephone interviews were conducted. Wives and husbands from 185 couples in southeastern Michigan with primary infertility were studied. There were two main outcome measures: how satisfied people were with the infertility treatment they received and why they were satisfied. Both men and women were satisfied with the infertility treatment they had received. The most frequently mentioned reasons for satisfaction were the technical skills and the emotional support of infertility specialists. Both men and women advised infertility specialists to be compassionate and share information with their patients. Spouses' satisfaction with treatment was the greatest predictor for both men and women. For men, using escape as a coping skill was a negative predictor for treatment satisfaction. For women, personal control and the number of infertility treatments received were other predictors for treatment satisfaction. As hypothesized, a variety of psychosocial factors were related to treatment satisfaction. Contrary to expectation, treatment costs and how long respondents had been trying to have a child were not related to treatment satisfaction. This study's results suggest that physicians and their staff should pay particular attention to their patients' emotional needs, to their patients' understanding of procedures explained to them, to discussing adoption with their patients, to involving men more in the infertility treatment, and to assisting women to have more control over their course of treatment.

Objective To determine which factors relate to satisfaction with infertility treatment. Design A prospective structured interview research design was used. Setting In-person and telephone interviews were conducted. Participants Wives and husbands from 185 couples in southeastern Michigan with primary infertility were studied. Main Outcome Measures There were two main outcome measures: how satisfied people were with the infertility treatment they received and why they were satisfied. Results Both men and women were satisfied with the infertility treatment they had received. The most frequently mentioned reasons for satisfaction were the technical skills and the emotional support of infertility specialists. Both men and women advised infertility specialists to be compassionate and share information with their patients. Spouses' satisfaction with treatment was the greatest predictor for both men and women. For men, using escape as a coping skill was a negative predictor for treatment satisfaction. For women, personal control and the number of infertility treatments received were other predictors for treatment satisfaction. Conclusions As hypothesized, a variety of psychosocial factors were related to treatment satisfaction. Contrary to expectation, treatment costs and how long respondents had been trying to have a child were not related to treatment satisfaction. This study's results suggest that physicians and their staff should pay particular attention to their patients' emotional needs, to their patients' understanding of procedures explained to them, to discussing adoption with their patients, to involving men more in the infertility treatment, and to assisting women to have more control over their course of treatment.

To compare the dynamics of fertility-problem stress experienced by wives and husbands in infertile couples with the dynamics of stress from other sources experienced by members of couples presumed to be fertile. Relationships of stress to four marriage factors and four aspects of life quality (subjective well-being) are examined within a causal modeling framework using data from structured interviews. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in study participants' homes. Wives and husbands from 157 couples with primary infertility and from 82 presumed-fertile couples were studied. Final outcome measures were four multi-item scales assessing life quality with regard to the marriage, own self-efficacy, own health and appearance, and life as a whole. Intervening outcome scales measured four marriage factors: marital conflict, sexual self-esteem, sexual dissatisfaction, and frequency of intercourse. Higher levels of stress, regardless of whether that stress was from attempting to solve a fertility problem or another problem, were related to reduced marital functioning and decreased life quality. For husbands, the strengths of the linkages did not depend on the source of the stress. For wives, however, the causal model suggested that fertility-problem stress had stronger negative impacts on sense of sexual identity and self-efficacy than did stress from other problems (P less than 0.05). Stress from any source had more impact on the lives of wives than of husbands, more impact on satisfaction with self and general well-being than on satisfaction with the marriage or health, and affected life quality mostly indirectly through its impacts on the marriage factors.

Infertility is a major negative life event which has deleterious effects on women's and men's subjective well-being. The relationships between self-esteem, perceived control, interpersonal conflict between spouses, global and intimacy life quality, and the stress produced by infertility were examined in a study of 185 married infertile couples. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that fertility problem stress had indirect negative effects on life quality via its mediating effects on self-esteem, internal control, and interpersonal conflict. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.