Process of becoming a mother in women receiving donated egg: Based on the grounded theory

Objective:To elucidate theoretically the safety and identity of mothers receiving egg and the process of becoming a mother.Methods:This study was conducted during 7 months from July 2018 to January 2019 by using a grounded theory approach.Infertile women at the gestational age who received oocyte were selected with purposive sampling method and then entered the study using theoretical sampling.Mothers who had not decided definitely to participate and had not started the treatment course yet were excluded from the study.The participating mothers were 28-44 years old with a mean age of(37.00±2.49)years.A total of 30 interviews were performed.Data were collected by unstructured deep interviews and field notes.The interview duration ranged between 19 to 74 min with a mean time of 40 min and they were performed individually.Results:Data analysis showed that"feeling of insecurity in personal and familial identity"formed in the context of"exposure to socio-cultural constraints"was the main problem of mothers receiving donated oocyte.This led to a set of coping strategies as"gradual acceptance","attempts to maintain the marital life","sensitivity in selecting donor","sensitivity in fetal care","seeking information and consultation","challenging the internal restlessness",and"treatment follow-up",all indicating the concept of"protection of personal and familial identity"as the core variable.Conclusions:The challenge faced by Iranian mothers receiving donated oocyte in the constrained sociocultural context forms a multilateral and all-inclusive insecurity.