PsyArXiv
LGBTQIA+ Family-Making Through Assisted Reproduction (ART): A Narrative Review
By António Oliveira and Henrique Pereira.
Abstract
Background
LGBTQIA+ people and couples increasingly pursue parenthood through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), yet the psychological, relational, and institutional processes involved remain dispersed across reproductive health, family studies, psychology, sociology, and LGBTQIA+ scholarship.
Objective
This structured narrative review synthesizes recent literature on how LGBTQIA+ individuals and couples construct parental projects through ART, with attention to reproductive aspirations, route selection, relational negotiation, minority stress, institutional encounters, and family narrative construction.
Methods
PubMed and Scopus were searched for publications from 2016 to 2026. After deduplication, 260 unique records were screened, 126 underwent refined relevance appraisal, and 49 articles were retained as the mapped corpus. From these, 17 index studies were purposively selected for in-depth discussion as they offered particularly rich evidence on psychosocial, relational, and institutional processes. The review followed a structured narrative synthesis approach guided by the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA).