Apresentação geral do projecto:Project overview 
Transition to parenthood in families that recurred to Assisted Reproductive Technologies:Parents' personal adjustment, marital relation and parents-infant relationship
Although Assisted Reproduction Technologies allow infertile couples the fulfilment of their desire to bear a child, its negative psychosocial impact in couples’ well-being has been described in the literature, especially during infertility treatments, but also when treatments are successful and a pregnancy is achieved, in transition to parenthood.
Adopting a developmental and ecological perspective, the purpose of the present research is to study and analyse the different possible developmental pathways that couples undergo when they choose ART in order to procreate. The study will be implemented throughout the characterization of the parents’ personal adjustment and marital relation since the time the couple decides to have a child, and, in the case of successful procreation, of the parents-infant relationship (parental care and mother-infant interaction and attachment patterns) from partum to one year postpartum. A control group of families with naturally conceived children is considered for comparing purposes.
The results from this study are expected to deepen present knowledge on the psychological impact of infertility and its (successful or unsuccessful) treatment and on adjustment to parenthood and on parenting among ART patients, contributing, this way, to the implementation of psychological preventive and support programmes before and during pregnancy and postpartum, that should minimize associated risk factors and, simultaneously, promote mental health, both at the individual and familiar levels of functioning.
Instituto de Psicologia Cognitiva, Desenvolvimento Vocacional e Social - Universidade de Coimbra - Todos os direitos reservados
