Infertile women's healing experiences of using complementary and alternative medicine: A phenomenological inquiry

Introduction: Infertile women frequently use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), in addition to conventional therapy. This study explored infertile women's use of CAM and their lived experience of healing. Method: This qualitative study was conducted using Van Mannen's approach to phenomenology. Individual semistructured face to face or telephone interviews were conducted with 22 infertile women with experience of CAM use, who were selected purposefully from February 2019 to July 2020 from referral infertility centers of Iran. All interviews transcribed and analyzed using six-step Van Manen's descriptive-interpretive approach, in which the process of analysis occurred while interviews were ongoing to explore the essence of the experience, so that sampling was terminated when saturation was achieved. The MAXQDA 10 software program was used for qualitative data organization. Lincoln and Guba's (1985) criteria were used to ensure trustworthiness . Results: The essence of the experience of CAM use, which emerged as the main theme from analysis of the data was healing the body and mind . Eleven sub-themes emerged within this major theme included body salve, harmonious with nature, increasing love in relationships, worth enduring the trouble, fostering wellbeing, reassuring, providing mental pleasure, inspiring calm, promising and motivating, having a supportive role and creating satisfaction. Conclusion: Infertile women understood CAM treatments as a remedy for healing the body and mind . Integration of CAM into conventional medical therapies of infertility should be considered. Fertility centers need to offer counseling programs for infertility treatment based on culturally embedded factors relating to CAM use.

Automated summary

This study examined infertile women's use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and their experiences of healing. The essence of the experience of CAM use was identified as healing the body and mind, with sub-themes including body salve, harmony with nature, and increasing love in relationships. Integration of CAM into conventional medical therapies for infertility may be beneficial, and fertility centers should consider offering counseling programs based on culturally embedded factors related to CAM use.