This survey aims to highlight the problems faced by couples—and especially women—who seek care at medically assisted reproduction (MAR) centers, in particular at the MIYA YGEIA IVF Embryogenesis (funding body) and at the MIYA of the Athens Naval Hospital, as well as to identify their needs, constraints, and concerns. Women attending these two centers are asked to complete an extensive questionnaire developed in collaboration with those centers, the non-profit association BE-LIVE, and the non-profit research organization diaNEOsis. The organization of the survey, the processing and statistical analysis of the data collected, as well as the preparation of the final reports presenting the results and findings have been undertaken by the Institute of Demographic Research and Studies (IRD).
In addition to the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the participants, the questionnaire includes two sections of questions. The questions in the first one primarily concern the history and pathway of women who have turned to MAR centers either for cryopreservation or to have a child using one of the available methods, as well as their information about these methods and access to them, the problems and difficulties they have encountered, and their level of satisfaction with the services provided. The questions in the second section allow us to explore knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding the “demographic issue,” and more specifically regarding family and reproduction.
The findings of this research, which is not limited to a specific time period (the completion of the questionnaires will continue at the two centers in the coming years), are not only of scientific interest. They are also “operationally” useful for stakeholders involved in the formulation of policies that, among other things, focus on or relate to medically assisted reproduction—an option increasingly sought by a growing number of couples, as the average age of women at childbirth in Greece has steadily increased over recent decades.