A Qualitative Study on the Acceptance of Donated Sperm From the Perspective of Infertile People in an Islamic Society

Background: Sperm donation as an assisted reproductive technique still faces many challenges due to ethical and legal complexity. The study aimed to elaborate on infertile people’s viewpoints regarding receiving donated sperm. Methods: This study was conducted qualitatively with the content analysis method on 19 infertile people (11 women and 8 men) visiting the Infertility Center of Fatemieh Hospital in Hamadan, west of Iran, in 2024. Infertile people were selected by the purposive sampling method. The data were collected using in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. The content was read repeatedly to identify meaningful units, which were coded and grouped. Similar codes formed categories, which were further organized into broader subcategories. Finally, these categories were summarized into overarching themes representing major concepts. Results: The extracted themes and categories were common themes of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, as well as categories of perceived advantages and disadvantages, companion pressure, and control of the existing situation. In the women’s group, the subcategories were psychological, emotional, religious, socioeconomic concerns, pleasant feelings, pleasant experiences, marital life stability, family norms, and childbearing. In the men’s group, the subcategories were unpleasant feelings, pleasant feelings, the more preferred method, marital life stability, family norms, and childbearing. The opinions of men and women were different regarding the anonymity of the sperm donor and a sense of paternity and motherhood. Conclusion: From peoples’ viewpoints, receipt of donated sperm, pressure from important companions, such as the couple’s families (subjective norms), and perceived behavioral control to overcome male infertility problems were among the factors influencing the receipt of donated sperm in couples as one of the infertility treatment methods. It seems that counseling services and public education campaigns help inform practice. Practical recommendations include developing age-specific counseling protocols and expanding financial support to increase access to sperm donation for different populations.