Do directed and non-directed oocyte donors differ regarding their motives, ambivalence, satisfaction and openness about donating?

Research Question: Do directed oocyte donors differ from non-directed identity-release oocyte donors regarding pre-donation motives and ambivalence, and post-donation satisfaction and openness?

Design: The study is part of the longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation where consecutive samples of identity-release gamete donors at seven Swedish University Hospitals were approached during a 3-year period (2005-2008). The participants of the current study were 16 women who donated oocytes to family members or friends (directed donation) and 123 women who donated to unknown recipients (non-directed donation). Survey data on motivation, ambivalence, post-donation satisfaction and openness were collected at five time points between acceptance as a donor and 14-17 years post-donation.

Relationship status among lesbian and heterosexual couples 8-10 years after undergoing assisted reproductive treatment in Sweden.

Background: Infertility along with fertility treatments has been reported to have a devastating effect on the well-being of the individuals involved as well as their relationship. So far, the studies exploring the impact on the relationship have mainly focused on heterosexual couples facing infertility and undergoing treatment. There is, therefore, a lack of data on the potential role of sexual orientation, gamete origin, as well as treatment success on the risk of separation after fertility treatment.

Psychological well-being and family functioning following identity-release gamete donation or standard IVF: follow-up of parents with adolescent children.

This study sought to investigate if heterosexual-couple parents with adolescent children following identity-release oocyte donation (OD), sperm donation (SD) or standard IVF differed with regard to psychological distress, family functioning, and parent-child relationships. The prospective longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation consists of couples recruited when starting treatment between 2005 and 2008 from seven Swedish university hospitals providing gamete donation. This study concerns the fifth wave of data collection and included a total of 205 mothers and fathers with adolescent children following OD ( = 73), SD ( = 67), or IVF with own gametes ( = 65).

Long-term follow-up of mental health and satisfaction in a Swedish sample of sperm and egg donors after open-identity donation.

Research Question: How is the mental health of open-identity gamete donors and their satisfaction with their contributions 14-17 years after acceptance as a donor?

Design: The Swedish Study on Gamete Donation is a longitudinal study comprising women and men who were accepted as donors at seven Swedish university clinics between 2005 and 2008. The latest (fifth) follow-up included 215 open-identity donors (response rate 87%): 123 oocyte donors and 92 sperm donors. The donors answered a questionnaire regarding their perceptions, experiences and expectations after gamete donation 14-17 years previously.

The motives and experiences of donor-conceived persons requesting the identity of their sperm donors.

Research Question: What are the motives and experiences of donor-conceived persons (DCP) who search for and receive information about their identity-release sperm donor?

Design: A qualitative interview study with 29 individuals (21 women, seven men, one non-binary) who were consecutively recruited after having requested information about their sperm donor at five Swedish University hospitals. All participants were conceived after donor insemination to heterosexual couples within an identity-release donation programme. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face or via telephone between September 2016 and November 2019, and transcribed audio recordings were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy-based interventions for maternal perinatal depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Depression during the perinatal period (during pregnancy and the year after childbirth) is common and associated with a range of negative effects for mothers, infants, family members, and wider society. Although existing evidence suggests cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) based interventions are effective for perinatal depression, less is known about the effect of CBT-based interventions on important secondary outcomes, and a number of potential clinical and methodological moderators have not been examined.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis primarily examined the effectiveness of CBT-based interventions for perinatal depression on symptoms of depression.

Overall childbirth experience: what does it mean? A comparison between an overall childbirth experience rating and the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire 2.

Background: In clinical settings and research studies, childbirth experience is often measured using a single-item question about overall experience. Little is known about what women include in this rating, which complicates the design of adequate follow-up, as well as the interpretation of research findings based on ratings of overall childbirth experience. The aim of this study was to examine which known dimensions of childbirth experience women include in the rating on a single-item measure.

Perceived social support in solo women seeking treatment with donor gametes and in women in heterosexual couples seeking IVF-treatment with own gametes.

Solo motherhood is a family constellation that is becoming increasingly common in high income countries. The demographic characteristics of solo women entering treatment with donated sperm or embryo have been shown to be different from that of cohabiting women. The general importance of perceived social support is frequently amplified when health and quality of life are concerned, and positively affects mental health status, experienced stress, perceived self-efficacy during the transition to parenthood and during parenthood itself.

Negative childbirth experience in relation to mode of birth and events during labour: A mixed methods study.

Objective: To explore descriptions of negative childbirth experience in relation to mode of birth and events during labour.

Design: A descriptive study using a convergent mixed methods design. Written responses to open-ended online questions regarding negative childbirth experience were explored using qualitative content analysis.

Effect of internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy among women with negative birth experiences on mental health and quality of life - a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Giving birth is often a positive experience, but 7-44% have negative experiences and about 4% develop posttraumatic stress disorder following childbirth (PTSD FC). This randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigated the effect of internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for women with negative birth experiences and/or at risk for PTSD FC.

Methods: This was a superiority nonblinded multicentre RCT comparing iCBT combined with treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU only.

Patterns and predictors of fear of childbirth and depressive symptoms over time in a cohort of women in the Pwani region, Tanzania.

Background: Fear of childbirth (FoB) and depressive symptoms (DS) are experienced by many women and can negatively affect women during and after pregnancy. This study assessed patterns of FoB and DS over time and associations of postpartum FoB and DS with sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study at six health facilities in Tanzania in 2018-2019.

Negative childbirth experience - what matters most? a register-based study of risk factors in three time periods during pregnancy.

Objective: To explore the impact of risk factors representing three different time periods during pregnancy on negative childbirth experience.

Methods: This was a register-based cohort study of 80482 primiparas giving birth to singleton, term infants in Sweden 2013-2018, elective caesarean sections (CS) excluded. Hierarchical logistic regression was performed to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in three blocks, each representing risk factors from one of three time periods: I) before pregnancy, II) pregnancy, III) childbirth.

Maternal advanced age, single parenthood, and ART increase the risk of child morbidity up to five years of age.

Background: Advanced maternal age, single status and use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) are increasing in mothers in high-income countries, and all are known risk factors for negative obstetric outcomes. Less is known about their long-term consequences for childhood morbidity. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate morbidity up to five years of age, in the children of older, single, and/or ART-treated mothers.

National survey of donor-conceived individuals who requested information about their sperm donor-experiences from 17 years of identity releases in Sweden.

Study Question: What characterizes the group of donor-conceived (DC) individuals who request information about their identity-release sperm donor in Sweden, and what are their experiences of disclosure, information receipt and donor contact?

Summary Answer: Following three decades of identity-release donation in Sweden, few DC individuals have requested donor information with varying experiences of information receipt and donor contact.

What Is Known Already: In 1985, Sweden was the first country worldwide to enact legislation that gave DC individuals the right to obtain identifying information about their donor. Since then, identity-release gamete donation has become available in many countries but there is limited knowledge about the individuals who request donor information.

Predictors of fear of childbirth and depressive symptoms among pregnant women: a cross-sectional survey in Pwani region, Tanzania.

Background: Many women experience fear of childbirth (FoB) and depressive symptoms (DS) during pregnancy, but little is known about FoB among Tanzanian women. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of FoB and DS among pregnant women and determine predictors of each and both, focusing on sociodemographic and obstetric predictors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at six health facilities in two districts in Tanzania between 2018 and 2019.

Self-rated health before pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes in Sweden: A population-based register study.

Background: Poor self-rated health (SRH) at time of childbirth has been associated with adverse birth outcomes. However, it is not known whether prepregnancy SRH contributes to these outcomes or whether SRH is a proxy for some other factors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the associations between poor SRH before pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes.

Positioning the donor in a new landscape-mothers' and fathers' experiences as their adult children obtained information about the identity-release sperm donor.

Study Question: How do heterosexual parents experience identity-release donation when adult children have obtained information about their sperm donor?

Summary Answer: Adult offspring's receipt of identifying information about the sperm donor challenged the fathers' role as a parent, which was reflected in how parents positioned the donor in relation to the family.

What Is Known Already: An increasing number of countries provide access to treatment with identity-release or 'open-identity' donors. However, there is limited knowledge about how parents experience and manage the situation when adult offspring obtain identifying information about the donor and may even establish contact with him.

Understanding parents' intention to disclose the donor conception to their child by application of the theory of planned behaviour.

Study Question: Does the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) contribute to understanding parents' intention to share information about genetic origin with their donor-conceived child?

Summary Answer: Parents' intention to start disclosure was associated with beliefs that disclosure would have desired consequences and a desire to act in accordance to societal norms.

What Is Known Already: Despite a growing consensus on donor-conceived offspring's right to information about their genetic origin, disclosure to the child remains a challenge for many parents, particularly heterosexual couples. TPB has successfully been applied to many health-related contexts and may contribute to increase understanding of parents' decision-making about disclosing the genetic origin to their children.

Access to infertility evaluation and treatment in two public fertility clinics and the reasons for withholding it: a prospective survey cohort study of healthcare professionals.

Objectives: Study the proportion of patients affected by involuntary childlessness who are denied fertility treatment and the reasons behind this in a publicly funded healthcare system.

Design: Survey study using prospectively collected information by healthcare professionals.

Setting: Two university-affiliated fertility clinics in Sweden.

Mothers who have given birth at an advanced age - health status before and after childbirth.

Women postpone childbirth to an age when morbidity is higher and fertility has decreased and yet the knowledge of mothers' morbidity related to age remains scarce. Swedish national register data from the Medical Birth Register and National Patient Register was used to investigate the incidence of diseases listed in the International Classification of Diseases, version 10 (ICD-10) in women who gave birth 2007-8. The index group consisted of women 40 years of age or older (n = 8 203) were compared to a control group of women, younger than 40 years (n = 15 569) at childbirth.

Attitudes among paediatric healthcare professionals in Sweden towards sperm donation to single women: a survey study.

Background: The number of families conceived through sperm donation to single women is increasing. However, there is limited knowledge about health care professionals' attitudes towards solo-mothers by choice, and there is some indication that professionals' personal opinions influence their care of individuals who use alternate ways to build a family. The primary aim of the study was to investigate attitudes towards, and experiences of, families following sperm donation to single women among healthcare professionals working in primary child healthcare.

Effectiveness and acceptability of cognitive-behavioural therapy based interventions for maternal peripartum depression: a systematic review, meta-analysis and thematic synthesis protocol.

Introduction: Peripartum depression is a common mental health difficulty associated with a range of negative impacts for the mother, infant and wider family. This review will examine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) based interventions for peripartum depression. Secondary aims are to explore the effect of CBT-based interventions targeted at peripartum depression on novel secondary outcomes and moderators potentially associated with effectiveness.

Psychosocial aspects of identity-release gamete donation - perspectives of donors, recipients, and offspring.

Donor conception creates families with varying genetic linkage between family members. This may have short-term as well as lifelong psychosocial consequences for all involved. Gamete donors have traditionally been anonymous to recipients and offspring, but there is a growing trend towards identity-release donor programmes that give offspring the right to obtain the donor's identity.

Managing absence and presence of child-parent resemblance: a challenge for heterosexual couples following sperm donation.

This qualitative interview study sought to gather and better understand heterosexual parents' experiences of managing resemblance and non-resemblance between child and parent in an identity-release donor programme. The study is part of the prospective longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation (SSGD), including all fertility clinics performing gamete donation in Sweden. A sample of participants in the SSGD, consisting of 30 heterosexual parents with children aged 7-8 years following identity-release sperm donation, participated in individual semi-structured interviews.