Table 4 Negative themes, sub-themes and example quotes from telephone interviews about use of ovulation tests
From: Women’s experiences of ovulation testing: a qualitative analysis
Themes | Sub-themes | Sample quote (participant ID number)a |
|---|---|---|
5. Sexual life | 5.1 Manufactured | “Well it’s [intercourse] more intense between the middle of my cycle than actually all over the place like it used to be… It somehow became a bit technical.” (6) |
5.2 No excitement | “A bit mechanical I guess rather than having fun and just being relaxed. I suppose it just took the fun out of it.” (18) | |
5.3 I missed it! | “I did another test when he came from work and I didn’t have this face and I was so upset. I started ringing the helpline and I said, ‘I’m afraid I missed it; he was at work and I couldn’t do anything’.” (22) | |
5.4 Raised expectations | “I just thought I’d fall quicker.” (18) “I was very excited to see it, and then automatically thought I might fall pregnant that month, so it was sort of a high when you saw the face and a low at the end of the month.” (25) | |
6. Relationship with partner | 6.1 Pressure | “It can increase the pressure between the couple. Obviously, if you both know that day is the day, sort of thing, it sort of increases the pressure a little bit. Although I didn’t find that but my husband said he did.” (23) |
6.2 Less romantic | “…it killed the romance a bit.” (6) | |
6.3 Secretive | “I sort of thought not to tell him.” (23) | |
7. Emotional consequences of prolonged use | 7.1 Dependence | “You could get too emotionally dependent on them if you are really desperate and they are the only thing that you could afford to do at the time.” (2) |
7.2 Stressed | “Well I didn’t fall pregnant on it. My boyfriend hated them, he thought it made me a stress head.” (18) | |
7.3 Obsession | “You’re waiting for that happy, smiley face to come, I found that I was getting a bit obsessed by it all, to be honest.” (25) | |
7.4 Artificial | “He didn’t mind but as I say, you know, he was quite happy for me to do it but then the more and more times I kept on doing it he was like, you know, stop relying on it, you should do it naturally.” (9) | |
8. Questioning and uncertainty | 8.1 Self doubt | “Occasionally you get the odd stick which didn’t work but it might have been just the way you’re holding it or whatever.” (11) |
8.2 Blame | “I thought what have I done, I have done something wrong……..at once, I thought it was a user problem as opposed to the test problem.” (10) | |
8.3 Confused why not working? | “Only when I say my period arrived, that’s the only time I was a bit stressed. I was like, you know, why isn’t it working, the test is saying this is when, we’re doing it when it’s telling us to and obviously there was no result after it.” (9) | |
8.4 Demotivating | “If the test says you are ovulating but you don’t conceive then I suppose it can be a bit de-motivating I suppose. Just a bit more frustrating.” (2) | |
8.5 Failure | “I suppose it’s like when you get your period that’s when I feel more stressed about anything because you kind of see it as another month that you’ve failed.” (36) | |
8.6 Something more wrong | “It was really easy and straightforward to use, the only thing was that from day six, there was similar disappointment to a pregnancy test to not getting a smiley face, and that was quite negative, so I was thinking oh god is it me and then my mind was going do I not ovulate? Is that why I haven’t fallen pregnant for all this time?” (17) |