Research Log

Sources: (1-5: Articles; 6-8: Health Websites)

1. Booth et al. "A case-control study of benign ovarian tumors." Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 46 (1992): 528-531. Print.

This case study in London investiages "the association between reproductive, contraceptive, and menstrual factors and the risk of benign ovarian tumours."  The results show age trends and the affect of oral contraceptives on ovarian tumours.

2. Parazzini et al. "Risk Factors for Functional Ovartian Cysts." Epidemiology 7.5 (1996): 547-549. Print.

This article is another case study that took place in Southern Europe that evaluates risk factors of ovarian cysts and compares women with functional ovarian cysts.

3. Becker and Nachtigall. "Eager for medicalisation: the social production of infertility as a 
disease." Sociology of Health & Illness 14.4 (1992): 456-471. Print.

The authors define medicalization and how infertility has been changing from a social condition to a disease.

4. Whiteford and Gonzalez. "Stigma: The Hidden Burden of Infertility." Social Science & Medicine 40.1 (1995): 25-36. Print.

Whiteford and Gonzalez research the impact of infertility on women, how they deal with it, and the stigma behind it.

5. Valentine. Infertility and Adoption: A Guide for Social Work Practice. New York: Haworth, 1988. Print.

In the first chapter, Valentine discusses the history of motherhood and infertility.

6. womenshealth.gov

7. mayoclinic.com

8. women.webmd.com

Part 2

1. Crawshaw and Balen. Adopting after Infertility: Messages from Practice, Research and Personal Experience. England: Jessica Kingsley, 2010. Print.

This book informs readers about the process of adoption from both doctors' perspective and adopters' perspective.  Adopters share their experience with infertility and what it is like to be an adoptive parent, including social difficulties they have faced. Crawshaw and Balen question whether couples with health conditions are suitable for adoption and argue that people should think twice about such couples.

2. Crawshaw and Balen. Sexuality and Fertility Issues in Ill Health and Disability: From Early Adolescence to Adulthood. England: Jessica Kingsley, 2006. Print

3. Spar. The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive Commerce of Conception. Harvard Business Press, 2006. Print.

The author makes having children seem like a marketplace and less of a satisfaction of life.


4. Diamond, Jaffe, and Diamond. Unsung Lullabies: Understanding and Coping with Infertility. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005. Print.

This book is dedicated to helping infertile people get through their dilemma step by step.  The authors are psychologists that have experience dealing with infertile people who have emotional, physical, and financial problems.


5. Haelyon. "Longing for a Child: Perceptions of Motherhood among Israeli-Jewish Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization Treatments." Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues 12 (2006): 177-202.

Haelyon's research studies 25 Israeli-Jewish infertile women that have undergone IVF treatments.  These women of the same culture, environment, and society have been interviewed about their opinions of motherhood, and the results show a wide-range of perceptions when the researcher believe there would be two different categories -- "obeying-the-treatment-routine" and the "negotiating" type.

6. Smith et al. "Fertility treatments and outcomes among couples seeking fertility care: data from a prospective fertility cohort in the United States." Fertility and Sterility 95.1 (2011): 79-84.

The study is based off of an evaluation of 408 couples in order to determine whether there is a correlation between pregnancy rates and the number of fertility treatment cycles.  Their findings show that couples that had undergone a couple of medication cycles had a higher rate of pregnancy over couples that underwent more cycles.  Smith's study suggests that cycle-based treatments may actually diminish efficiency of pregnancy.