MFT6106-5

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Research Topic When considering a proposal question, I tried to find something I would like to learn more about. As I hope to help more of my community, my proposal question asks, “What can marriage and family therapists do to prepare for African American Women dealing with infertility?”. However, while searching for this topic, I found there is little literature specifically for African American women. When searching, the information was mostly dedicated to Caucasian women or couples. Even in the articles dedicated to African American women, the context soon turned to married African American couples. Therefore, to find more readings, I changed my question to “What can marriage and family therapists do to prepare for African American couples dealing with infertility?”. In my research, I found that infertility, or the inability to become pregnant after 12 months of unprotected sex, affects women of all races. Still, each article agreed that it affects African American women at a higher percentage. According to Taylor (2018), 7.2 % of married African American women between the ages of 15-44 are affected by infertility. It also affects African American men, 1.2% between the ages of 25-44. Ceballo et al. (2015) believe that the higher number of infertilities is due to a lack of information given to the demographic. This comes from the distrust the African American community has towards the medical profession. Taylor (2018) and Wiltshire et al. (2019) agree and suggest that as a knowledgeable therapist, we can inform our clients of what comes with the process of IVF and insemination, as well as books and readings with more information to assist. Also, in collaboration of the medical community, therapists can refer to the appropriate medical professional.

2 Each article agrees that the therapist should be knowledgeable about the basic biological effects and psychological effects that occur when dealing with infertility. When a couple deals with infertility and is considering moving forward with medical assistance, they will need to know what that entails. Williams et al. (1992) and Atwood & Dobkin (1992) explain the possible steps that women go through when treating infertility. Starting with taking their basal body temperature to the painful testing that may come in more severe cases. When a couple deals with infertility, there are feelings of shame, guilt, anger, anxiety, and helplessness. As infertility can be a loss or a traumatizing event (Taylor, 2018), those who go through it may need to grieve their loss. Often, infertility is not considered something to grieve over, the therapist can help navigate the feelings of shame and guilt. Taylor (2018) explains which emotions may be associated with an infertility diagnosis and how the therapist can help the couple through them. Atwood & Dobkin (1992) give step-by-step instructions through the grieving process and steps to help the couple through the crisis. Williams et al. (1992) give different types of interventions to the therapist to aid a couple going through the grieving process. Interventions include normalizing their anger or teaching compassion or forgiveness to themselves and their spouse. When reading on intervention, it is important to remember to be culturally aware. In most African American households, their faith is powerful. Taylor (2018) reminds the therapist that faith may be used as a coping mechanism if others are not working.

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4 References Atwood, J. D., & Dobkin, S. (1992). Storm Clouds Are Coming: Ways to Help Couples Reconstruct the Crisis of Infertility. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 14(5), 385–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00895055 Ceballo, R., Graham, E. T., & Hart, J. (2015). Silent and infertile: An intersectional analysis of the experiences of socioeconomically diverse African American women with infertility. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 39(4), 497–511. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315581169 Taylor, L. C. (2018). The experience of infertility among African American couples. Journal of African American Studies, 22(4), 357–372. Williams, L., Bischoff, R., & Ludes, J. (1992). A biopsychosocial model for treating infertility. Contemporary Family Therapy, 14(4), 309–322. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00891868 Wiltshire, A., Brayboy, L. M., Phillips, K., Matthews, R., Yan, F., & McCarthy-Keith, D. (2019). Infertility knowledge and treatment beliefs among African American women in an urban community. Contraception and Reproductive Medicine, 4, 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40834-019-0097-x

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