O-19: Challenges of Donor Selection: The Experiences of Iranian Infertile Couples Undergoing Assisted Reproductive Donation Procedures

Background: Couples seeking assisted reproductive donation procedures are faced with complex challenges throughout their treatment which can have important psychological impacts on their life. Selecting a suitable donor is one of the hardest decisions they will ever make. This study was carried out to provide an in-depth description of the experiences of couples in relation to donor selection. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive exploratory qualitative study, 32 infertile couples who were candidate to use assisted reproductive donation procedures were purposefully selected from Montaserieh infertility center in Mashhad, Iran in 2012. Data was collected through conducting semi-structured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis. Member check and expert debriefing were used to enhance study rigor. Results: The experiences of infertile couples in relation to donor selection were classified in three categories: challenging selection of type of donor, adopting selection criteria and searching for donor suitability. Most of the couples agreed with unknown donors. The most important criteria for donor selection from couples' point of view was moral issues. Nevertheless, due to limited number of donors, in most cases couples did not search about donor before selection. Conclusion: Limited number of donors is the most important issue in most of couples to make decision regarding donor selection, which caused they to relinquish from thinking on the type of donor and selection criteria.