Barriers and enablers to a healthy lifestyle in people with infertility: a qualitative descriptive study

Sophia Torkel; Lisa Moran; Rui Wang; Anthony Villani; Evangeline Mantzioris; Robert J. Norman; Stephanie Cowan

doi:10.1186/s12958-025-01387-y

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Barriers and enablers to a healthy lifestyle in people with infertility: a qualitative descriptive study

Journal article

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Barriers and enablers to a healthy lifestyle in people with infertility: a qualitative descriptive study

Sophia Torkel, Lisa Moran, Rui Wang, Anthony Villani, Evangeline Mantzioris, Robert J. Norman and Stephanie Cowan

Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, Vol.23(1), pp.1-25

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-025-01387-y

PMID: 40197283

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Abstract

nutrition

physical activity

infertility

behaviour change wheel

Background While there is a recognised role of lifestyle (diet and physical activity) in management of infertility, there is limited research exploring the perspectives of people with infertility in relation to lifestyle management. The aim of this study was to understand the barriers and enablers affecting uptake of lifestyle intervention in people with infertility who were using or seeking fertility treatment. Methods A qualitative descriptive study was performed. Online interviews were conducted with people with infertility who were using or seeking fertility treatment. Interviews explored barriers and enablers to a healthy lifestyle while attempting conception. Interview questions were informed by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour (COM-B) model and theoretical domains framework (TDF). Interview transcripts were analysed using template analysis. Themes were mapped to the COM-B and TDF, and suggested interventions were developed using the behaviour change wheel method. Results Nine women and two men completed the interviews. The median age was 38 years (interquartile range 33 to 42 years). Barriers and enablers related to capability (e.g. managing whole-body health and disease), opportunity (e.g. unmet needs from the healthcare system) and motivation (e.g. interplay between lifestyle and emotional state). Suggested intervention components included delivering inclusive programs which accommodate individual needs and providing engaging information which debunks myths and explains the mechanism by which lifestyle promotes fertility. Conclusions Our study provides novel and rich insights into the unique needs of people with infertility, and has identified several interacting factors which influence their lifestyle behaviours. Our findings highlight that changes at the organisational and policy level are essential to overcome major barriers to lifestyle management by improving access to trustworthy resources with actionable advice, and by improving service provision to deliver multidisciplinary patient-centred care. Future studies should use these findings to co-design interventions and resources to support lifestyle management of infertility. Trial registration Not applicable.

Details

Title: Barriers and enablers to a healthy lifestyle in people with infertility: a qualitative descriptive study
Authors: Sophia Torkel - Monash University
Lisa Moran - Monash University
Rui Wang - The University of Sydney
Anthony Villani - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics
Evangeline Mantzioris - University of South Australia
Robert J. Norman - The University of Adelaide
Stephanie Cowan (Corresponding Author) - Monash University
Publication details: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, Vol.23(1), pp.1-25
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1186/s12958-025-01387-y
ISSN: 1477-7827
PMID: 40197283
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to ethical and privacy reasons.
Grants: Improving assisted reproductive technology outcomes - a personalised approach, 2009767, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Centre of Research Excellence in Health in Preconception and Pregnancy: Prevention of maternal obesity, 1171142, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Grant note: LM was supported by a Veski fellowship.
Organisation Unit: Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991119452602621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Endocrinology & Metabolism; Reproductive Biology

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