Granskad, utredd, (o)lämplig: En kulturanalytisk studie av patientperspektiv på bedömningen av föräldralämplighet inför assisterad befruktning
(2026) TKAM02 20261Division of Ethnology
- Abstract
- In Swedish public healthcare, assisted reproductive treatment is financed for healthcare seekers who cannot achieve spontaneous fertilization. To be granted treatment, applicants are required to be approved in a suitability assessment. This study examines how suitability is constructed within the assessment, how individuals navigate the obstacles they encounter in being evaluated as suitable, and what consequences these constructions might have for applicants and societal norms surrounding parenthood and family.
The study is based on in-depth interviews with individuals seeking assisted reproductive treatment, legislation and guidelines surrounding the assessment, and internet observations in Facebook groups about experiences of assisted... (More) - In Swedish public healthcare, assisted reproductive treatment is financed for healthcare seekers who cannot achieve spontaneous fertilization. To be granted treatment, applicants are required to be approved in a suitability assessment. This study examines how suitability is constructed within the assessment, how individuals navigate the obstacles they encounter in being evaluated as suitable, and what consequences these constructions might have for applicants and societal norms surrounding parenthood and family.
The study is based on in-depth interviews with individuals seeking assisted reproductive treatment, legislation and guidelines surrounding the assessment, and internet observations in Facebook groups about experiences of assisted reproductive treatment. The analysis draws on Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenological theories of orientation and affect economies, alongside Michel Foucault’s ideas on bio-politics and institutional discipline.
The findings show that suitability is constructed through a distinction between assisted and spontaneous fertilization, where spontaneous fertilization is framed as natural and desirable, while assisted fertilization is viewed as unnatural and therefore subject to regulation. Suitability is further shaped by eugenic logics, which are reproduced through the assessment process. This also risks increasing ill health among applicants who are concerned about seeking care and being identified as unsuitable.
Although the assessment claims to assess suitability, it primarily identifies unsuitability through its focus on risk factors rather than protective factors. Furthermore, suitability is not an inherent quality but a contextual construction against which applicants are measured. The informants both comply with and resist the assessment by changing aspects of their lives to appear suitable or to pursue other paths to parenthood. At the same time, they receive very little guidance about what is considered “suitable” within the assessment. The informants show an ambivalence toward the assessment, where the assessment is considered to serve an important function, while at the same time seen as incapable of assessing parental suitability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9243933
- author
- Malmberg, Eva LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- TKAM02 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Assisterad Befruktning, Föräldraskap, Reproduktiv Kontroll, Medicinsk Humaniora, Familjenormer, Eugenik, IVF, Familj, Bedömning, Reproduktion
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9243933
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-25 10:37:09
- date last changed
- 2026-07-01 09:07:13
@misc{9243933,
abstract = {{In Swedish public healthcare, assisted reproductive treatment is financed for healthcare seekers who cannot achieve spontaneous fertilization. To be granted treatment, applicants are required to be approved in a suitability assessment. This study examines how suitability is constructed within the assessment, how individuals navigate the obstacles they encounter in being evaluated as suitable, and what consequences these constructions might have for applicants and societal norms surrounding parenthood and family.
The study is based on in-depth interviews with individuals seeking assisted reproductive treatment, legislation and guidelines surrounding the assessment, and internet observations in Facebook groups about experiences of assisted reproductive treatment. The analysis draws on Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenological theories of orientation and affect economies, alongside Michel Foucault’s ideas on bio-politics and institutional discipline.
The findings show that suitability is constructed through a distinction between assisted and spontaneous fertilization, where spontaneous fertilization is framed as natural and desirable, while assisted fertilization is viewed as unnatural and therefore subject to regulation. Suitability is further shaped by eugenic logics, which are reproduced through the assessment process. This also risks increasing ill health among applicants who are concerned about seeking care and being identified as unsuitable.
Although the assessment claims to assess suitability, it primarily identifies unsuitability through its focus on risk factors rather than protective factors. Furthermore, suitability is not an inherent quality but a contextual construction against which applicants are measured. The informants both comply with and resist the assessment by changing aspects of their lives to appear suitable or to pursue other paths to parenthood. At the same time, they receive very little guidance about what is considered “suitable” within the assessment. The informants show an ambivalence toward the assessment, where the assessment is considered to serve an important function, while at the same time seen as incapable of assessing parental suitability.}},
author = {{Malmberg, Eva}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Granskad, utredd, (o)lämplig: En kulturanalytisk studie av patientperspektiv på bedömningen av föräldralämplighet inför assisterad befruktning}},
year = {{2026}},
}