Growing on (in)fertile ground: an evolutionary concept analysis of Black female fertility

Abstract

Female fertility is a complex phenomenon. Biological, personal, social and political factors shape this experience. Race, a social construction, was created to justify discriminative political and economic practices. Therefore, ‘Black’ differentiates the fertility experiences of Black women from other racial/ethnic groups, a group often marginalized in the United States. We explored a contemporary understanding of Black female fertility using Rodgers’ evolutionary method of concept analysis. A total of 36 articles were included in the final analysis extracted from PubMed, CINAHL Complete, PsychINFO, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Data and themes were categorized into groups within attributes, antecedents and consequences from multidisciplinary literature. Attributes were biological instability and sociopolitical influences on Black female fertility. Racial and bioethical injustices were notable antecedents. The consequences of racial and bioethical injustices persist in reproductive health disparities today. This review documents the need for health practices that end institutional racism that contribute to negative experiences for Black women seeking fertility related care. Many interdisciplinary professionals are perfectly positioned to be part of health care solutions to reduce contemporary health disparities.

Keywords:

• Fertility
• ethnicity
• health disparities
• female reproductive tract

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Drs. Sharron Docherty and Eun-Ok Im at Duke University School of Nursing for their guidance, encouragement and support through the inception and refinement of this concept analysis.

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflict of interest. The author’s doctoral studies are supported by an appointment as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar at Johnson & Johnson, Inc. The authors are responsible for the content and writing of the article.