Supervisor: Dr Catherine Conlon
Working Title of PhD: An exploration of the experiences of same sex, female identifying couples, who have used fertility services, in an Irish setting, to create their de-novo family, of their interactions with the medical profession.
Description of Research:
The aim of this research is to explore the experience of lesbian couples (two people who identify as women), who created a family of their own through pregnancy, of the sets of relations that evolved between themselves and the medical professionals and institutions that they encountered during this process.
This is a qualitative study, interviewing couples together, who have embarked on this journey and either have had a baby or stopped trying due to fertility issues or miscarriage. The research will take a constructivist ground theory approach.
I am a retired family doctor (GP) with many years of experience counselling and caring for lesbian couples who have embarked on creating a family of their own. I also have an interest in how patients and doctors interact – the doctor / patient relationship.
Combining these two interests has led me to develop my PhD topic.
As my background is medical rather than social science, I am being introduced a new area of learning, so planning this research has been challenging and stimulating.