SOCIOCULTURAL PERCEPTIONS OF INFERTILITY: INSIGHTS FROM A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF INFERTILE INDIVIDUALS

This article is premised on the notion that infertility is a subjective construct that individuals employ to make meaning of their experiences (Greil & McQuillan, 2010). The study explored the sociocultural meaning and perceived causes of infertility among married women and men experiencing primary infertility in Kwara South, Nigeria. Results from the study showed that the bases of understanding infertility are engrained in culture. Infertility is broadly defined in the range of lack of conception and inability to achieve a live birth which is described as barrenness and childlessness respectively. It is also defined as a major life problem: defeat of the purpose of creation and/or marriage. Cultural and spiritual factors were exalted as primary causes of infertility. These include lifestyle choices or habits (waywardness/promiscuity, alcoholism, substance abuse and diet); beliefs on rape, dirtiness, abortion, wrong mate selection, and spiritual oppression, trial and punishment from God