The long term, general objective of the proposed research is to help achieve a reduction in post-sterilization regret. To accomplish this objective, we aim more specifically to describe the major psychological and situational antecedents to the childbearing termination and sterilization decisions as made by married couples, relate these antecedents to the positive and negative effects of sterilization at one and two years following surgery, determine in what ways individual's pre-surgical decisions and their post-surgical reactions to sterilization are influenced by their spouses, and determine how and to what extent the findings of the first three aims vary according to the sex of the individual (husband or wife) and the type of surgery (vasectomy or tubal ligation). Data will be collected from 200 married couples where the woman is seeking a tubal ligation and 200 married couples where the man is seeking a vasectomy. These respondents will be selected randomly from all couples attending presurgical information sessions at the Santa Clara Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center. Husbands and wives will be interviewed separately several weeks before sterilization and then again at 1 and 2 years after surgery. They will be questioned about their decision-making, their feelings about their decision, and the ways that they have been affected by the sterilization in six different behavior domains. Data analysis will focus on understanding the relationship between antecedents to the decision and the effects of sterilization that are important in the development of regret. Special emphasis will be placed on the contribution of spousal influence to the problem of regret.
| Miller, W B; Shain, R N; Pasta, D J (1991) The pre- and poststerilization predictors of poststerilization regret in husbands and wives. J Nerv Ment Dis 179:602-8 |
| Miller, W B; Shain, R N; Pasta, D J (1991) Tubal sterilization or vasectomy: how do married couples make the choice? Fertil Steril 56:278-84 |
