Sharing Your Story
Donor Conception Research Study
Thank you for your desire to learn more about our research and what is driving us to do it!
Research shows...
As is the case in all of science, we are building on the work of other wonderful scientists and clinicians across the globe who have been working with families who used donor material to conceive. What we know from this research is that donor-conceived children:
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are just as well-adjusted as their peers who were conceived without the use of donor material, and
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they even share, on average, more positive relationships with their parents during the preschool years.
During childhood and adolescence, youth in families who were open about donor conception are functioning better and have more positive relationships with their parents compared to youth in families who were not open about their conception journey early on.
Talking with your child
From a parent’s perspective, the decision to disclose use of donor material can be confusing! Questions about when to start talking to your child about their conception story, what details to include, and how often to revisit the conversation can prevent well-meaning parents from getting started. So can worries and anxieties about how your child might react. And then there are decisions about who else to tell, outside of the immediate family.
Without good information, how can a parent know how to begin?
Your next steps
In our study, we are hoping to learn how to best to support parents in this part of their journey.
Interested parents will complete surveys so that we can understand more about their thoughts and feelings about donor conception and sharing their child’s story with them. Then, parents attend two, live half-day educational workshops with several other families, hosted on a virtual platform by two psychologists with expertise in families, child development and well-being, infertility, and donor conception. At the conclusion of the workshops, and again about 3 months later, parents are asked to complete the surveys again so that we can see how taking part in the workshops has impacted thoughts, feelings, and behaviors around sharing their child’s conception story with them.
Interested in joining in our research? Great! Click the link below and complete a short survey so that the research team can contact you.
Interested in reading more of the scientific literature?
Below are some excellent resources that have impacted our work.
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Adamson, G. D., de Mouzon, J., Chambers, G. M., Zegers-Hochschild, F., Mansour, R., Ishihara, O., … Dyer, S. (2018). International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology: World report on assisted reproductive technology, 2011. Fertility and Sterility, 110(6), 1067–1080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2018.06.039
Applegarth, L. D., Kaufman, N. L., Josephs-Sohan, M., Christos, P. J., & Rosenwaks, Z. (2016). Parental disclosure to offspring created with oocyte donation: intentions versus reality, Human Reproduction, 31, 1809–1815, https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dew125
Golombok, S., Lycett, E., MacCallum, F., Jadva, V., Murray, C., Rust, J., Abdalla, H., Jenkins, J. & Margara, R. (2004) Parenting infants conceived by gamete donation. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 443-452.
Golombok, S., Jadva, V., Lycett, E., Murray, C. & MacCallum, F. (2005) Families created by gamete donation: Follow-up at age 2. Human Reproduction, 20, 286-293.
Golombok, S., Murray, C., Jadva, V., Lycett, E., MacCallum, F. & Rust, J. (2006) Non-genetic and non-gestational parenthood: Consequences for parent-child relationships and the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers and children at age 3. Human Reproduction, 21, 1918-1924.
Golombok, S., Readings, J., Blake, L., Casey, P., Mellish, L., Marks, A. & Jadva, V. (2011) Children conceived by gamete donation: The impact of openness about donor conception on psychological adjustment and parent-child relationships at age 7. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 230-239.
Golombok, S., Blake, L., Casey, P., Roman, G., & Jadva, V. (2013). Children born through reproductive donation: a longitudinal study of psychological adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 54(6), 653–660.
Hershberger, P. E., Gallo, A. M., Adlam, K., Steffen, A. D., Driessnack, M., Grotevant, H. D., Klock, S. C., Pasch, L., & Gruss, V. (2022). Alpha test of the donor conception tool to empower parental telling and talking. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing: JOGNN, 51, 536–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2022.06.039
Indekeu, A., Dierickx, K., Schotsmans, P., Daniels, K. R., Rober, P., & D’Hooghe, T. (2013). Factors contributing to parental decision making in disclosing donor conception: A systematic review. Human Reproduction Update, 19(6), 714–733. https://doi.org/ 10.1093/humupd/dmt018
Isaksson, S., Sydsjo¨ , G., Skoog Svanberg, A., & Lampic, C. (2012). Disclosure behaviour and intentions among 111 couples following treatment with oocytes or sperm from identity-release donors: Follow-up at offspring age 1–4 years. Human Reproduction, 27(10), 2998–3007. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/des285
Jadva, V., Freeman, T., Kramer, W., & Golombok, S. (2009). The experiences of adolescents and adults conceived by sperm donation: Comparisons by age of disclosure and family type.
Human Reproduction, 24(8), 1909–1919. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dep110
Kramer, W. (2017, December 6). A brief history of donor conception. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-brief-history-of-donor-conception_b_9814184
Murray, C. & Golombok, S. (2003) To tell or not to tell: The decision-making process of egg donation parents. Human Fertility, 6, 89-95.
Söderström-Anttila, V., Sälevaara, M., & Suikkari, A. M. (2010). Increasing openness in oocyte donation families regarding disclosure over 15 years. Human Reproduction, 25(10), 2535–2542. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deq194