Attitudes and dilemmas facing fertility preservation decision-making by oncology patients from the perspective of healthcare professionals: a qualitative study

Fertility protection aims to prevent irreversible damage to fertility. The current study explored attitudes and dilemmas facing healthcare professionals treating oncology patients with the aim of producing empirical evidence to aid decision-making on fertility preservation. Fifteen healthcare workers in oncology-related departments of three tertiary general hospitals in Hunan Province were enrolled by purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews conducted. Themes were extracted, analyzed and summarized using NVivo 12.0 software. Three themes were identified: (1) decision-making perceptions and attitudes of healthcare professionals; (2) decision-making dilemmas of patients due to psychosocial pressure, information transmission barriers, time pressures and economic burden; (3) dilemmas affecting the implementation of decisions due to the necessity to balance oncology treatment and fertility preservation and lack of decision-support resources. Seven sub-themes were also identified. The current study found a need among healthcare professional participants to improve their understanding of fertility preservation, indicating significant gaps in their knowledge base. Oncology patients suffer many pressures and difficult choices which the healthcare system fails to support and a supply-side imbalance exists. The quality of fertility care in oncology requires improvement by better informing healthcare professionals, creating decision-making aids and constructing a localized decision support system. Not applicable.