Psychosocial counselling in donor sperm treatment

For decades, donor sperm treatment is offered to men and women to build a family. In daily life, parents, children and donors have to deal with the consequences of this treatment.
The studies of this thesis show that there are gaps in knowledge about specialist psychosocial counselling and guidance for parents, donors and children. Psychosocial counselling and guidance are not available for all parties involved, insufficiently meet the needs in case of accessibility, and is not evidence-based.
Counselling and guidance are of value for all (intended) parents when they have questions about when and how to disclose donor-conception to their child, about the position of the social parent and when a child want to seek contact with the donor. Counselling for sperm-donors is of value before registering as a donor, after childbirth and at the time children seek contact. Counselling for donor-children is of value when they wish information and guidance and when they think about contact with their donor.
With this thesis we aim to make a step forward in the direction of evidence-based psychosocial counselling for all men and women who need a sperm-donor to build a family and to stimulate specialist training for counsellors.
In the Netherlands, more unity is needed in the accessibility of counselling in the clinics, and the development of a National Informationpoint Donorconception.
In addition, more research is needed about psychosocial implications of openness about donor-conception for children and parents, about experiences of contact between donor-children and sperm-donors and experiences about non-genetic parenthood.