Whilst there is research evidence on the consequences of involuntary
childlessness in majority ethnic communities in the UK and other more
developed societies, and also a growing literature on the experiences of
infertile women in less well-resourced countries, there is a dearth of research
exploring the potential impact of ethnicity and culture on the experience of
infertility within Western societies.To begin to address this lacuna, this thesis
was designed to exlore the social meanings of infertility in British South Asian
communities, and the infertility experiences of individual South Asian
women. The study used a qualitative, interpretive approach, and employed a multiple
method design. The first phase of the study consisted of 13 single gender
focus groups with a total of 87 participants of Indian, Pakistani and
Bangladeshi ethnic origin, which explored public perceptions of involuntary
childlessness and attitudes towards infertility treatments. The second phase of
the study included in-depth interviews with 15 individuals of South Asian
ethnic origin who had experience of infertility
