Anxiety, Difficulties, and Coping of Infertile Women

Abstract

The present study aims to highlight how women perceive and adapt to infertility difficulties. To better understand the difficulties that women diagnosed with infertility are experiencing, the study explores this concept in correlation with anxiety and coping. 240 women with fertility problems from various parts of Romania completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Form Y), Brief COPE and the scale “Difficulties With Infertility and Its Treatment.” Statistical analyzes showed that women who were at the beginning of treatment obtained higher scores on the anxiety [F(2,237) = 4.76, p = 0.009] and on the difficulties scale [F(2,237) = 3.53, p = 0.031], compared to participants who resorted to repeated fertilization procedures. It is important to emphasize that there is a significant positive correlation between the perception of infertility difficulties and coping, and also between difficulties and state anxiety. Regarding the relationship between state anxiety and coping, there were significant positive associations between maladaptive coping strategies and state anxiety, while adaptive strategies were negatively associated with state anxiety. In addition, regarding coping strategies, venting and self-blame occurred predominantly in women who know that the cause of infertility is female-related. These findings draws attention to the fact that infertile women live this experience at very high levels of anxiety, using quite a few adaptive coping mechanisms. These results highlight the need to investigate ways to reduce anxiety and optimizing adaptive coping strategies.

The effect of depression and the reframing strategy on the level of satisfaction with family life in infertile and post-miscarriage couples: dyadic analyzes

“…The selection of strategies for coping with the problem of infertility, in addition to gender, turns out to be related to the level of perceived stress and the perception of infertility as a loss or as a challenge. Women struggling with the problem of infertility experience high anxiety, uncertainty and lack of control (Dana, Narimani, Mikaeili, 2013;Yazdani, Kazemi, Fooladi, & Samani, 2016), which is associated with more frequent use of avoidance strategies, self-blame, denial and distraction (Gourounti et al, 2012, Iordăchescu et al, 2021, Zurlo, Della Volta, Vallone, 2020 and perceiving the problem of infertility as a loss (Kalus, 2014). Also, infertile men with higher levels of stress most often adopted blame and avoidance strategies (Babore, Stuppia, Trumello, Candelori, Antonucci, 2017, Nagórska, Obrzut, Ulman & Darmochwał-Kolarz, 2021.…”

Quality of Infertility Care Services and Emotional Health of South Asian Women

“… 9–11 Research from non-Muslim communities also validates that women with infertility are more likely to suffer poor emotional outcomes on their health including increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. 12 …”

Validation of the Portuguese Version of the Fertility Adjustment Scale

“…ART can be a means to achieve parenting, but the rate of success is limited and may lead to frustrating couples’ expectations, with high rates of failure around 75%, such as is the case of in vitro fertilization (IVF) [ 8 ]. Therefore, an effective adjustment to involuntary childlessness and infertility should be grounded on coping skills to overcome the hardness of consecutive failed treatments [ 9 , 10 ]. Indeed, a previous review of empirical evidence reported that relational and personal issues and psychological burdens were responsible for individuals’ treatment discontinuation [ 11 ].…”