Explaining the Factors Affecting Childbearing in Iran: A Meta-Synthesis Study

Background and purpose: Childbearing, as one of the structural elements of demographic changes, has attracted considerable attention in the field of social issues. In light of the new population policies of the country aimed at increasing the population, the present study was conducted with the aim of examining the factors related to childbearing in Iran through a systematic review of qualitative studies. Materials and methods: The current study is a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies that was conducted using the Noblit and Haar method in six stages. To this end, all the qualitative studies related to the factors of affecting childbearing in Iran were scrutinized at information banks within the country without year restrictions using keywords "childbearing" and "qualitative studies". It was also searched in PubMed, Scopus Google scholar databases using keywords "Childbearing", "fertility", "Qualitative Study" and Iran. To ensure the quality of the selected articles, all stages of searching, screening and final selection of articles were done by two independent researchers. Results: Twenty-two qualitative studies on the factors affecting childbearing were identified and analyzed based on the inclusion criteria. Consequently, two main categories were extracted: "facilitators of childbearing" and "barriers to childbearing." Conclusion: In this meta-synthesis study, various factors play a role in couples having children, which are religious, individual, family-social factors that are facilitators, and demographic, economic, selfish, cultural, social, political, health-related factors are barriers to having children. Regardless of the problems and societal expectations, the likelihood of an increase in the country's population is not feasible.