The anxiety of infertility: The role of the nurses in the fertility clinic.

This paper discusses the effects of anxiety and depression on infertile people as they undergo infertility investigations and treatments, and explores what nurses may do to assist them to cope with this anxiety. There is an extensive literature on the psychosocial effects of infertility on couples, women and men separately and their children, but the nursing and midwifery literature lacks an in-depth exploration of the psychological and emotional consequences of infertility for infertile people. The paper concludes by arguing that nurses and midwives need to undertake research into their practice in fertility care, that is, caring for infertile people as they undergo assisted reproductive technologies and, to this end, suggests sources of research funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]