Thank you for your interest in this research project, which seeks to increase knowledge of how people get information and support and how they make decisions as they consider and pursue infertility treatment and/or adoption.

This study is being conducted by Dr. Kathryn Flynn, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology and by Dr. Alexandra Cooper, Associate Director for Education and Training, Social Science Research Institute, Duke University.  It focuses on those who hope to add at least one more child to their families and who are facing difficulties in doing so. Everyone who is currently dealing with challenges in growing their families is invited to participate, whatever the origin of those challenges and wherever you are in the process of resolving them.  

We expect this survey to take you about 30 minutes to complete.  It is not necessary to complete it all at once; you can choose to have the system save your partially completed answers so that you can pick up where you left off.  

The survey starts with a few basic questions that will help us better target the other questions we ask of you.  It then proceeds to a set of standardized survey items that have been developed to help measure the quality of life for men and women experiencing fertility problems.  That is followed by several batteries of items intended to help us understand the support networks you rely on and how you make decisions about growing your family.  Of course, you can skip any questions you do not want to answer and can exit out of the survey at any time.

Some questions concern personal topics, for example, how long you have been trying to conceive, what medical conditions you have been diagnosed with, and what experiences you or your partner have had with being pregnant, if any. These questions are needed because we are asking people with many different social and personal circumstances to do the survey and these questions can help us better understand the challenges people are facing and the many different factors that influence decision making. 

For all questions please select the answer that best describes your own situation, thoughts or feelings. There are no right or wrong answers.

This survey does invite you to provide online pseudonyms you may use.  If you have a partner, it also asks if they would be willing to consider filling out the questionnaire and if so, asks you to provide an email we can use to send them an invitation.   However, if you prefer you may skip those items and remain anonymous, which means that no one can trace your answers back to you.   All the information you provide will be securely stored and will be accessed only by the researchers.  We will never share any contact information you have provided or share or report our data in a way that would make it possible to link your answers to you (if you choose to provide your partner’s email to allow us to send them an invitation, we will remove that email from your survey responses as soon as we record your spouse’s replies or stop collecting surveys, whichever comes first).

If you have questions about the study itself, please contact Dr. Alexandra Cooper at 919-681-3902 or cooper@duke.edu. If you have questions about your rights as a survey participant, you may contact Duke University’s Office of Research Support by calling (919) 684-3030 or emailing ORS-info@duke. 

Thank you very much for considering helping us with this important project on decision-making about fertility and efforts to become a parent. 

Would you like to participate in this study?