Marital Suffering and the Assisted Reproductive Technology Process: The Case of an Infertile African Spouse

Abstract

This work deals with the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) process, of an infertile spouse who faces a proposal for Artificial Insemination with Donor (AID), in a cultural context where male infertility is still taboo and where this practice is not yet really anchored in manners. Indeed, research in clinical psychology does not sufficiently consider this aspect of the suffering in the couple. However, according to ethno-psychiatric theory, the therapeutic route of the African patient depends largely on cultural representations of his disease. This work aims to study the repercussions of the suffering of an infertile African spouse on his ART/AID process. This research was conducted with three infertile men ranging in age from 37 to 44; after experiencing the failure of the first ART attempt, they were called upon to undergo an AID protocol. Data were collected using semi-structured individual research interviews and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADs). These data were analyzed using content analysis technique. Thus, the suffering of the infertile spouse at this level can be justified by cultural constraints, the shame of the social gaze, the secrecy maintained by the culture on this practice. Sometimes, this spouse perceives his infertility as the consequence of villain-induced mystical persecution; which generates tensions between him and his spouse, his family and those close to him. Under the cultural pressure that demands a blood child, this ART/AID process is camouflaged by shame, doubt about the quality of the unborn child and even about the competence of the medical workers. The positive diagnosis of anxio-depressive syndrome in the participants after analysis of the HADs scores would also be justified by the absence of psychological care in the ART/AID process.