PhD Student Cebert and Gonzalez-Guarda Submit NIH NRSA Application

Kudos to PhD student Morine Cebert and her sponsor Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda for the submission of her NIH NRSA application entitled "Understanding Decisions to Initiate and Continue Treatment Seeking Among Black Women with Infertility." This proposal requests funding for one-year period with a start date of April 1, 2019.

Black women are two times more likely to experience infertility, yet twice less likely to seek treatment than non-Hispanic White women. Research on treatment seeking behaviors in Black women with infertility is scarce and provides an incomplete understanding of their experiences. Black women with untreated infertility experience issues such as high levels of isolation, silence, and negative medical experiences, yet little is known about what factors facilitate adequate treatment seeking.

The purpose of this study is to understand what influences Black women with infertility to initiate and continue treatment. The specific aims of this study are to:

1) Identify biological, clinical, and socio-cultural factors that predict completion of infertility treatment plans among Black women who have initiated treatment

2) Generate a multidimensional description of Black women’s perceptions of biological, clinical, socio-cultural influences on decisions to initiate and continue treatment for infertility.