Objectives: The objective of our qualitative study was to define modalities of psychological support to be offered to couples seeking medically assisted procreation.
Material and methods: Forty couples participated in a semi-structured videotaped interview, which touched on themes such as personal and family histories, the couple's relationship, etc. We focused on the "narrative mobility", that is the way in which the couples transmit their personal and family history during the interview and the interviewer's impression that he may or may not share this with the couples.
Results: Observed differences in narrative mobility led us to distinguish three groups of couples and to propose various types of psychological support.
Discussion and conclusion: This exploratory study, with its interest for the narrative mobility, concerns the couples' capacity to stand back from their own story as responsible interlocutors. We made the hypothesis that this capacity is linked to their capacity to handle their emotional stress, to act as partners to the medical team and to prepare themselves for their future parenthood.