Background: Infertility is a worldwide public health problem and affects psychological aspects of males’ and females’ life. However,  the problem has not been well investigated in Palestine. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine prevalence and predictors of depression among infertile men in the Gaza strip. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among three hundred eighty five infertile males from January to December 2019. Participants were selected from three main in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centers following simple random sampling. The Arabic version of Beck Depression Inventory was used. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using the SPSS V22. Binary analysis was done to determine independent variables and t-test and one-way ANOVA were conducted afterwards. Logistic regression was performed to determine independent factors associated with depression symptoms. The p-value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Results: Findings showed that 42.6% (164/385) of infertile men had at least one type of depression. Severe depression was presented in 16.6% (64/164) of participants, while 13.2% (51/164) and 12.7% (49/164) showed moderate and mild depression, respectively. Predictors for depression were duration of marriage (>8 years) (CI 95%: 1.099-2.615) and at least one IVF attempt (CI 95%: 0.373-0.873). Conclusion: It has been revealed that depression is prevalent among infertile men. Marriage of long duration and several failures in IVF attempts are predictors for depressions. Psychological counseling besides medical interventions seems to be an optimal strategy to alleviate psychological distress associated with infertility.

Objective: To investigate the quality of life of infertile couples who seek in vitro fertilizations (IVFs) by gender in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, from February 2019 to November 2019, among 383 infertile couples selected through convenient sampling. A valid and reliable Arabic version of the fertility quality of life questionnaire (FertiQoL) was used in data collection. One way analysis of variance and independent t-test were applied to compare between males and females. Results: The mean age of males and females was (34.54±8.54) years and (29.28±6.71) years, respectively. More than half of them had university degree (64% and 60%, respectively). The mean duration of infertility was (5.66±3.54) years. The mean males’ scores of FertiQoL and its subscales (emotion, mind/body, social, core, tolerability, and treatment) were significantly higher than females’ scores (P<0.05). Conclusions: Males have higher scores of FertiQoL and its subscales than females. The mean score of FertiQoL increases with better education, but decreases with increase of age, duration of marriage, duration of infertility and number of IVF attempts. Routine psychological assessment and counseling are necessary for infertile women taking into considerations factors affecting their quality of life.