Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To study the possible differences between women and their partners' experiences with patient-centered fertility care. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Thirty-two Dutch fertility clinics. PATIENT(S): A total of 1,620 infertile women and their partners, under treatment in one of the participating clinics, were randomly selected to participate in this study. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Level of patient-centeredness, measured with the validated Patient-Centeredness Questionnaire-Infertility questionnaire (PCQ-Infertility). RESULT(S): Questionnaires from 696 women and 520 partners were analyzed. No significant difference in PCQ-Infertility total score was found between women and their partners. The partners scored significantly higher on the subscales "respect for patients values" and "staff's competence" compared with the women. CONCLUSION(S): Patients' experiences with fertility care are only slightly different between women and their partners. This can be valuable in the process of improvement of patient-centered fertility care, one of the core dimensions of quality of care.
