Question

Why is infertility important pregnant women/couple and or new parents to understand but which is not commin knowledge for most people, define and explain the importance. When explaining explain as if you were a social worker in the prenatal clinic. Please type response

Answer 1

Perinatal social worker (say, PSW) is a professional, who is responsible for a couple, to make them go through the medical process during pregnancy and also till the first year of an infant. Such person not only helps the couple, but also the family to cope with the psychological issues like post partum depression etc,. This person has medical knowledge at the same time, a post graduation degree in social work, such that communication and interaction between people from various kinds about pregnancy and issues involved in it, can be well handled by them.

Infertility refers to a condition where a couple are trying to get pregnant more than a year, which may occur due to medical issues in them or due to improper intercourse. PSW should provide information that are below to help the couple to overcomes their problem.

Education about infertility:

1. Risks during the pre pregnancy and post pregnancy are rising due to changing life style which may lead to infertility or death of neonate during delivery. So, educating women and men about complications involved and other factors is a must to creat more awareness in them.
2. Medical issues like irregular periods, polycystic ovary disease and improper ovulation can also lead to infertility. All these occur due to exposure to alcohol, tobacco, stress and radiation etc. And, in men decrease in sperm count, erectile dysfunction and delayed ejaculation can also lead to proper in getting pregnant.
3. Infertility might affect both mother and father physically and emotionally, which might lead to even more stress developed during the course of time. This is because, until they can to the doctor they never know they have an issue physically and many are sensitive towards child bearing activities. So, it is important for the PSW to inform about all other alternative reproduction techniques, such that a couple do not lose hope about getting pregnant.
4. Techniques like invitro fertilization (IVF) and donor gametes are time consuming and if the problem is about the male, and proper technique is done it takes a month to proceed with it because, ovary is released in female only once a month. So, the alternate procedures are possible and can be done but, it takes quite a lot of time and other factors like hormonal medications which may or may not getting pregnant. It is because, the chances are always low, when compared to natural way of getting pregnant.
5. So, it is better to create awareness about the above points to a couple, who were trying to get pregnant over a year and make them emotionally ready to proceed with other treatments like IVF so that the couple can get pregnant.

Responsibilities of PSW during infertility treatment for couple:

• Initially any couple will not accept to proceed with alternative choices because, it puts them into many changes like hormone treatment, medications and emotional stress. So, a PSW should explain clearly and calmly about all the possible alternatives along with it's advantages and economic budget.
• The PSW gets involved in the treatment to reduce the stress of a couple and keep assisting them during scanning and all other steps by clearing their doubts and fears about it.
• A good PSW must explain about ethical, social and moral implications about the technique a couple is going to follow and document it accordingly to avoid future problems.
• PSW should record observations and doctor's plan about the treatment for the couple that is set and maintain the data with high confidentiality and help them with their privacy.
• Major decision making about the infant during gestation and delivery should involve suggestion given by PSW. A PSW should be present during consultation given by doctor and he or she should be updated by every new technologies about child birth and infertility.
• And, every PSW should be able to provide every knowledge to both male and female about the treatment plan and education, which can improve the quality service provided by a him or her, to a couple.