INFERTILITY COUNSELING - THE NEED FOR A PSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

The expectation of the vast majority of young couples is that at some stage they will 'have' children. Infertility means that that expectation cannot be met and this has personal, couple and social implications. Infertility counselling has focused primarily on the psychological or emotional needs of the couple. This paper argues that a psychosocial perspective is needed, with increased emphasis being given to the social end of the psychosocial continuum. A case study is presented to illustrate the range of psychosocial issues that can arise and suggestions are made regarding how these might be responded to. These include: responding to the emotional needs of the couple, responding to the couple and their networks, utilizing self-help and support groups, contributing to an effective team approach, using a multi-role approach, being clear about the different components of counselling, and contributing to the social policy and ethical issues. Social workers, with their psychosocial perspective, are seen to have a unique contribution to make to a more holistic approach to infertility counselling.