I don’t experience any insults but my wife does”: The blame game of male infertility in Ghana

Abstract

Background. African men with infertility appear to be concerned about the blame for male infertility falling on their wives. Objective. To explore the concerns of men with infertility about the blame for male infertility falling on their wives. Methods. Participants were recruited through their wives, who were receiving treatment for infertility from the obstetrics and gynaecology unit of a public hospital in Ghana. The men had been identified as having male factor infertility. A semi-structured interview guide was designed and used to conduct in-depth interviews. Each participant was interviewed twice. The first interview lasted ~20-30 minutes. The second was by telephone, for validation of the findings, and lasted ~10 minutes per participant. Each interview was transcribed verbatim for conventional content analysis. Results. The findings revealed that the men described three main concerns: traditional influences, emotional disturbances and pressure on wives. Conclusion. The men’s narrations of their experiences indicated that they were very concerned about the blame for male infertility falling on their wives. There is a need for health education on male infertility in Ghana.