Open AccessGamete donors’ motivation in a Swedish national sample: is there any ambivalence? A descriptive study
Author(s) -
SVANBERG AGNETA SKOOG,
LAMPIC CLAUDIA,
GEIJERWALL ANNLOUISE,
GUDMUNDSSON JOHANNES,
KARLSTRÖM PEROLOF,
SOLENSTEN NILSGUNNAR,
SYDSJÖ GUNILLA
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0412.2012.01430.x
Subject(s) - ambivalence , medicine , descriptive research , sample (material) , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychology , sociology , social science , chemistry , chromatography
Objective . To study donors’ motivation and ambivalence before donation of gametes. Design . Cross‐sectional study. Setting . Seven Swedish university hospital clinics. Sample . Of the 220 eligible oocyte donors and 156 eligible sperm donors who were approached, 181 (82%) oocyte donors and 119 (76%) sperm donors agreed to participate. Methods . Gamete donors completed a questionnaire in the clinic prior to the donation. Main outcome measures . Motives and ambivalence towards donation. Results . In general, gamete donors donated for altruistic reasons (95%). A greater percentage of oocyte than sperm donors had a personal experience of biological children, which motivated them to donate (65 vs. 32%). A greater percentage of sperm donors compared with oocyte donors were curious about their own fertility (24 vs. 9%), and they also believed that they were contributing what they regarded as their own good genes to other couples (45 vs. 20%). Prior to donation, potential sperm donors were more ambivalent towards donating than were oocyte donors (39 and 21%, p < 0.001). Conclusions . The motives to donate gametes are mainly altruistic. We conclude that men and women differ in their view towards donating gametes. Sperm donors had a higher degree of ambivalent feelings towards donation than oocyte donors.