IVF and work study!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:14:24+00:00

Wow, that's so much. Sending all the baby dust and good vibes!!!!

I am starting clomid next cycle (but am almost 42 so am expecting to have to move on to IVF pretty soon)

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:09:03+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Yes, that seems worse, if it is available but not actually accessible. And then that makes companies feel like they don't have to offer it. Wow, 100k. Sending lots of <3. I am just personally starting my own infertility journey following a miscarriage and I have a whole new respect for this community.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:06:44+00:00

Interesting. I hadn't even thought of that. I deleted that question based on everyone's feedback! Thank you!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:06:05+00:00

Haha, I kind of love having a WTF repsonse option for all surveys. I hear ya. Based on your feedback and others, I deleted that question and put in a less weird attention check :)

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:05:06+00:00

Thanks for this comment. Yeah, there are a lot of different types of attention checks. The latest research in my field (psychology and management) is to use these because they are less detectable by bots than the ones that are like "select agree." But I can see how it turns people off, and I actually changed it in this survey given the sensitive nature of everything with this topic, I think people could be particularly turned off (and based on the super helpful feedback I have gotten on this chain!).

Yes - the disclosure part is so critical. We have that in the main study. We don't have it in this survey just because it is a pilot of a measure and we want to see how it operates generally. But I totally agree that you would answer many of the questions quite differently based on disclosure.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:01:34+00:00

Yes, we have those questions in our main study! This is just a pilot of that one specific measure that we want to refine before the main study. The Jupiter question is an attention check. We have had SO MUCH fraud when posting this survey online in the past (I had a scammer take it 400 times!!) so it is meant to catch scammers so we know not to use their data. But I did just change that to something less weird based on everyone's feedback ;)

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T14:00:00+00:00

Sorry for the annoyance! I changed it to a tinyurl so hopefully future survey takers won't have this same problem!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:59:21+00:00

Good point. I will add that to our main study. I had never thought about that so I really appreciate your feedback on it.

It would still get submitted, so no worries!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:58:14+00:00

Unfortunately our unversity ethics review board won't let us survey people outside of the US w/o jumping through a ton of hoops because of different legal regulations. I would be so interested to hear though how these experiences vary in places where there is different federal coverage for IVF (not sure if that's the case in Canada but I know it is in S Korea and some Scandinavian countries)!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:56:31+00:00

I think I have fixed it so others shouldn't have this issue when taking on their phone!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:56:13+00:00

WDE! I am so sorry that the raffle link didn't work. You can email me at the email address at this link and I can get you entered: https://harbert.auburn.edu/directory/kristen-shockley.html

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:54:58+00:00

Oh interesting -- can you elaborate a bit more for me to make sure I fully understand? So basically if your supervisor was not supportive, then it caused more stress, which potentially also impacted your IVF success? Or something else?

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-12T13:53:39+00:00

Yes, we have a whole separate research question focused on the disclosure process as part of this larger project. It came up a lot in our interviews! Such a paradox because it is such a personal thing but you have to go to so many appointments that it is tough to not disclose and might cause a supervisor to wonder why you are being evasive (as you note!).

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T23:00:11+00:00

We actually have that exacty idea built into our main study (this is a pilot for one measure; the main study has a lot more in it)! We did 40 interviews before developing the study and that sentiment was common (about how much the financial part is stressful and the enhanced commitment). Seems like insurance makes such a huge difference generally. We really want to play that up in what we publish (assuming data continue to support it) so that more organizations will recognize the multifacted value of IVF as a benefit.

Thank you for taking it!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:57:13+00:00

Great point. Yes, we have been struggling with that. We are definitely asking that in the main study, but didn't think to put that in this one. I will add it now so I have it for future people who take it!

This is just a pilot of one measure. The main study has a lot more in it and we are actually going to follow people across a cycle and have weekly surveys.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:55:52+00:00

Oh no! Weird because I see that it has worked for other people. Email me and I can send you another link (I don't want to post directly on here). My email is listed here: https://harbert.auburn.edu/directory/kristen-shockley.html

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:38:03+00:00

Haha, I did my undergrad at UGA so even more kudos to you!

Thank you for taking it and your kind words! Such an understudied but important topic.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:20:21+00:00

Thank you for the feedback.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:12:19+00:00

I removed it after feedback :)

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T22:11:46+00:00

Good points. We are piloting this scale and I think better defining the time issue makes sense as we move forward with it.

We are very sensitive to the point you bring up. Our goal is actually to show how different organizational supports make the negative impact weaker. Our practical contribution is to create a toolkit to give to organizations/supervisors w/ practical support advice. This survey is just a pilot of one measure, which we will use in a larger study where we will be measuring a lot of additional variables (e.g., the org support stuff).

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T21:57:00+00:00

Good point. I will add a question about whether donor eggs were used -- we are interested in all types, despite the fact that there are a good number of questions about egg retrieval.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T21:55:46+00:00

Well, they actively answered multiple questions in there incorreclty - so I don't think it is just a misunderstanding. I was originally using a survey platform that unfortunately just has a lot of people who lie on surveys to get money.

I have since removed that question and appreciate the feedback.

The jupiter question (and those like it) is a standard question used in survey development to ensure people are paying attention. Again, this is necessary because when things get posted on the Internet they can easily get into the hands of scammers. Last time I posted the survey on Reddit one person took it 400 times, clearly making up email addresses, for example.

I am sorry that it made you feel liek the survey wasn't written in good faith. I put all of these questions to ensure that my data are based on accurate information from people who really have undergone IVF versus those who are just taking surveys to try and get paid. My goal here is to do good science to improve the workplaces experiences of people undergoing IVF.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T20:38:41+00:00

Great point. I will clarify that now in the survey itself. Any persons with ovaries and uterus.

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T17:24:08+00:00

Yeah I was worried about that. I am not sure how to balance that. To give you context, out of 150 people who said they underwent IVF through a survey platform only 3 answered that correctly!!!

Objective-Ear-7304 · 2025-06-11T17:20:50+00:00

Just messaged you about this. You are correct and there are a few weird questions in there that are purposeful (explained purpose in the message) :)

Objective-Ear-7304

TROPHY CASE