Infertility Counseling: A Comprehensive Handbook for Clinicians »

Sharon N. Covington is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. She is also currently the Director of Psychological Support Services at Shady Grove Fertility Reproductive Science Center in Rockville, Maryland. A psychotherapist for over 30 years, she practises individual, couple and group psychotherapy as well as the highly specialized area of infertility counseling.

Linda Hammer Burns is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Director of Counseling Services at the Reproductive Medicine Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a psychologist over 20 years providing individual and couple counseling in women's health psychology with a special focus on reproductive health psychology.

A comprehensive textbook on infertility counseling.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Emily S. Jungheim, M.D.(Washington University School of Medicine)
Description:A follow-up to the 1999 first edition, this is a broad reference for those interested in addressing and understanding the unique psychosocial needs of infertility patients.
Purpose:This book sets out to "provide a definitive textbook on infertility counseling." There is a great need for such a book not only for counselors, but also for the many other participants in the care of infertility patients. While it is difficult to create such an all-encompassing book, as individual patients come for fertility care with so many different backgrounds and expectations, this one comes close. Where the book falls short, cited resources in the back of the book can often be used. One example of where the book is lacking is in the insight needed for counseling patients with disabilities such as spinal cord injury -- a group of patients not uncommonly seen in infertility clinics.
Audience:The authors, respected in this field, aim their book at counselors and practitioners in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology and at those specializing in infertility care.
Features:The book covers a wide range of unique topics that arise in the counseling of infertility patients, including both medical and psychosocial issues. It is particularly comprehensive in addressing third-party reproduction with oocyte, sperm, and embryo donation, and gestational carriers. The appendixes provide a nice collection of references for questionnaires addressing specific concerns an infertility patient may have or experience. Unfortunately, this book fails to adequately address some of the issues facing minority patient populations that are more commonly encountered in the infertility office, such as patients with disabilities and gay and lesbian patients.
Assessment:This is a quality overview of the approaches to the unique psychosocial concerns of infertility patients. The new edition is timely as our knowledge and application of technology in this field has exploded since the first edition in 1999. The book covers a broad spectrum of topics, but with a field that is constantly expanding with new and sometimes controversial technology, it is difficult to provide a book that is both comprehensive and still manageable as a reference. Where the book falls short, it often provides the reader with resources for further study and information.