PSYCHO-SOCIAL FACTORS AND THE UTILIZATION OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

The purpose of this study was to assess psycho-social factors and the utilization of assisted reproductive technology services among infertile couples in North Central Zone of Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, one (1) research question and one (1) hypothesis were developed. The ex-post facto research design was used for the study. To obtain adequate data for representation, a sample size of seven hundred and sixty-eight (768) respondents comprising of males and females was drawn from the target population representing 4% of the target population. Stratified sampling technique, simple random sampling technique, purposive sampling technique and proportionate sampling technique were adopted to have proper representation of respondents for the study. A validated questionnaire of 4 point modified Likert scale of Strongly Agreed (SA), Agreed (A), Disagreed (D) and Strongly Disagreed (SD) was used as instrument to elicit information from the selected respondents. The questionnaire consisted of Section A and B. A total of seven hundred and sixty-eight copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed among infertile couples in North Central Zone of Nigeria for data collection out of which seven hundred and fifty-one (751;97.4%) were duly completed and used for analysis. Descriptive statistics of frequencies and simple percentages were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, and an inferential-statistics of one sample t-test was used to test the one (1) hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level of significance. The results revealed that psycho-social factors significantly determine the utilization of Assisted Reproductive Technology services among infertile couples in North Central Zone of Nigeria (t=73.209; p=0.000). Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that: Psycho-social factors determines the utilization of Assisted Reproductive Technology services among infertile couples in North Central Zone of Nigeria. And on the basis of the conclusion drawn, it was recommended that: Sensitization campaigns should be made by government, non governmental organizations, faith-based organizations and traditional rulers through jingles, radio announcements, television, radio advertisement and community gathering to educate the society especially in-laws and significant others that no matter the duration of infertility and the type of infertility one maybe suffering from, it can be treated for conception through the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) services.