Development and evaluation of a decision-making aid for couples hesitant about transitioning from infertility treatment to advanced assisted reproductive technology: a usability and feasibility study

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The aims of this study were (1) to develop a decision-making aid for couples hesitant about transitioning from infertility treatment to advanced assisted reproductive technology, (2) to examine the adequacy of this aid, and (3) to evaluate its usability. After the first version of the decision-making aid was created, the first version was supervised and finally a prototype of the decision-making aid was completed. We conducted a feasibility study from February to March 2022. We used a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive design involving 22 medical professionals and infertility survivors recruited. Results Twenty-two participants (3 reproductive medical specialists, 11 nurses who specialize in reproductive medicine, and 8 infertility survivors) were included in the final analysis (91.7% valid response rate). Of these participants, 81.8% answered Agree regarding “Easy-to-read degree of charts”, 17 (77.3%) answered It is just the right amount regarding “Appropriateness of information volume”, 81.8% answered Agree regarding “Ease of understanding content”, and 90.9% answered Good regarding “Overall performance”. From the opinions received, we extracted 4 categories: “Useful for decision making,” “Suitable for providing information,” “Useful in clinical practice,” and “Needs improvement.” Certain degrees of surface validity and content validity were confirmed for the trial version of the decision-making aid.

Keywords

• Infertility
• Decision making
• Feasibility studies