Development and validation of the attitude towards Surrogacy Scale in a polish sample

Abstract

Surrogacy—is one of the most controversial methods of infertility treatment. This concept is associated with difficult ethical, psychological and social issues, in which each aspect may lead to different trends in attitudes. The study of attitudes in society plays an important role in the analysis of various aspects of a given phenomenon, helps to fill legal gaps and ambiguities, and to transform controversial dimensions into normative concepts. Thus, this study aimed to develop and validate a scale to assess the attitudes towards surrogacy. The survey used in this study, consisted of 24 questions, which were organized into the four subscales: general opinion on surrogacy and its social context (7 items), financing and legalizing surrogacy (8 items), the acceptance of surrogacy (4 items), and attitudes towards the intended parents and children born through surrogacy (5 items). 442 individuals participated in this study. The final version of Attitude towards Surrogacy Scale consists of 15 questions, grouped in three subscales: opinion on surrogacy ethical context, financing and legalizing surrogacy, and an acceptance of surrogacy. This is the first scale in Poland for the assessment of general attitudes towards surrogacy. This measure allows to capture the opinions towards three aspects of surrogacy: surrogacy’s ethical context, the financing and legalizing surrogacy, and acceptance of surrogacy. The scale can be addressed to various groups in the society, not only for studies related to reproductive medicine.