The distress of one-dimensional fertility in an African family

Abstract

Several Euro-American approaches to couple and family therapy have been instrumental in promoting successful practice of couple and family therapy in continental Africa. This article, however, describes one instance in which an African couple's distress of one-dimensional fertility could not be resolved by drawing solely from the Euro-American family therapy tradition. One-dimensional fertility is defined as a crisis that arises in conditions of sonlessness or daughterlessness in a marriage, that is, in situations where there are only male or female children born to the marriage. The use of medical intervention through the prescription of drugs often worsens rather than enhances the psychological well-being of couples who suffer from the distress of one-dimensional fertility. Therefore, it is considered beneficial to encourage the development and recognition of psychological literature that suggests what to be done to control such a distress without recourse to the use of medication or the complicated and sensitive procedure of in vitro fertilisation. The article suggests that the leading intervention package for attending to the challenge of couples with the distress of one-dimensional fertility entails the exercise of inducting them into the principles and practice of the fertility awareness-based method of family planning known as the billings ovulation method that is in harmony with the African cultural perspective.