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Objective The number of couples experiencing infertility treatment has increased, as has the number of women and men experiencing infertility treatment-related stress and anxiety. Therefore, there is a need to provide information and support to both men and women facing fertility concerns. To achieve this goal, we designed a mhealth app, Infotility, that provided men and women with tailored medical, psychosocial, lifestyle, and legal information. Methods This study specifically examined how fertility factors (e.g. time in infertility treatment, parity), socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. gender, education, immigrant status), and mental health characteristics (e.g. stress, depression, anxiety, fertility-related quality of life) were related to male and female fertility patients’ patterns of use of the Infotility app. Results Overall, the lifestyle section of the app was the most highly used section by both men and women. In addition, women without children and highly educated women were more likely to use Infotility. No demographic, mental health or fertility characteristics were significantly associated with app use for men. Conclusion This study shows the feasibility of a mhealth app to address the psychosocial and informational needs of fertility patients.

BACKGROUND Given the complexity of infertility diagnoses and treatments and the convenience of the internet for finding health-related information, people undergoing infertility treatments often use Web-based resources to obtain infertility information and support. However, little is known about the types of information and support resources infertility patients search for on the internet and whether these resources meet their needs. OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to (1) examine what individual factors, namely, demographic characteristics and distress, are associated with searching the internet for different types of infertility-related information and support resources and (2) determine whether Web-based resources meet the needs of patients. METHODS Men and women seeking infertility care responded to a survey assessing use of Web-based resources for accessing infertility-related information and support. The survey further assessed satisfaction with Web-based resources as well as perceived stress and depressive symptomatology. RESULTS A total of 567 participants, including 254 men and 313 women, completed the survey. Most participants (490/558, 87.8%) had searched the internet for infertility information and support. Searchers were more likely to be women (PP=.04), long-term patients (P=.03), and more distressed (P=.04). Causes of infertility, treatment options, and scientific literature about infertility were the three most frequently searched topics, whereas ways to discuss treatment with family and friends as well as surrogacy and ways to find peer support were the three least searched topics. Of those who searched the internet, 70.9% (346/488) indicated that their needs were met by Web-based information, whereas 29.1% (142/488) said that their needs were not met. Having unmet needs was related to greater levels of perceived stress (P=.005) and depressive symptomatology (P=.03). CONCLUSIONS This study provides evidence for the important role of the internet in accessing infertility information and support and for the ability of Web-based resources to meet patients’ needs. However, although distressed patients reported particularly high rates of searching, their needs were not always met, suggesting that they may benefit from alternative sources of information and support or guidance from health care providers when searching the internet.

Background: Infertility patients frequently use the internet to find fertility-related information and support from people in similar circumstances. YouTube is increasingly used as a source of health-related information and may influence health decision making. There have been no studies examining the content of infertility-related videos on YouTube. Objective: The purpose of this study was to (1) describe the content of highly viewed videos on YouTube related to infertility and (2) identify video characteristics that relate to viewer preference. Methods: Using the search term “infertility,” the 80 top-viewed YouTube videos and their viewing statistics (eg, views, likes, and comments) were collected. Videos that were non-English, unrelated to infertility, or had age restrictions were excluded. Content analysis was used to examine videos, employing a coding rubric that measured the presence or absence of video codes related to purpose, tone, and demographic and fertility characteristics (eg, sex, parity, stage of fertility treatment). Results: A total of 59 videos, with a median of 156,103 views, met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into 35 personal videos (35/59, 59%) and 24 informational-educational videos (24/59, 41%). Personal videos did not differ significantly from informational-educational videos on number of views, dislikes, subscriptions driven, or shares. However, personal videos had significantly more likes (P