Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. This article was submitted to Gender, Sex and Sexualities, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sociology. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author s and the copyright owner s are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.
No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. The paper aims to understand the treatment seeking behavior and the experiences of men with male factor infertility.
An infertile man is defined here as one who is diagnosed with primary or secondary infertility, undergoing infertility treatment, irrespective of the fertility status of his wife. Primary data of men undergoing infertility treatment from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds was collected through semi-structured interviews.
The initial effect of the infertility status led the men to feel depressed, guilty, shocked, and isolated. A large proportion of the respondents never discussed the problem with anyone except their wives. Changes of doctors or clinics were more attributed to unsuccessful treatment cycles and success rate of other clinics than the referral by doctors.
Destiny, bad luck, lifestyle, medical reasons, and late marriage are found as perceived causes of male infertility. Age above 40, younger age at marriage, marriage duration for 6 and more years, secondary infertility, self-employment, and higher income have significant association with longer time gap between marriage and initiation of infertility treatment. Based on study findings, we propose Belief and Practice theory where we elaborate the progression in treatment for male infertility.
