psychosocial attitudes and experiences of oocyte donors: a systematic review

psychosocial attitudes and experiences of oocyte donors: a systematic review
Elham Adibmoghaddam,^1,* Ashraf Kazemi,² Gholamreza Kheirabadi,³ Seyyed Mehdi Ahmadi,⁴
1. Student Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
2. Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
3. Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
4. Isfahan Fertility and Infertility Center, Isfahan, Iran
Introduction: The number of oocyte donation treatments to overcome infertility has drastically increased since its introduction 30 years ago. Oocyte-donation is generally safe but may exacerbate psychiatric symptoms in some women. This study was conducted to assess oocyte donors’ attitudes, motivations and experiences to obtain information on base rates of various experiences associated with oocyte donation.
Methods: A bibliographic search of English and Persian language publications of four databases “web of sciences, Medline, Scopus and SID was undertaken with no time restriction set for publications.
Results: There were 74 studies which met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Studies showed that a significant proportion of oocyte donors were prepared to donate their oocytes as identifiable donors. The research syntheses revealed there were distinct differences between motives for donation, and issues relating to disclosure. Further, most studies on the attitudes and feeling of patients involved from all sides of the donation process were extremely positive.
Conclusion: In general terms this review explored, the attitudes and feeling of patients involved from all sides of the donation process were extremely positive and despite the hazards and discomfort of the oocyte donation procedure, the majority of donors have reported positive experiences of oocyte donation.
Keywords: oocyte donation, gamete donation, systematic review