Well-being, stress levels and adopted coping mechanisms among women experiencing infertility
Abstract
Infertility is a serious psycho-social issue that affects a couple's mental, physical and social well-being and marital stability. For people and couples who are trying to get pregnant, infertility can be a difficult and emotionally taxing process. Feelings of despair, anger, shame, and even a sense of loss might result from being unable to conceive naturally or bring a pregnancy to term. It's critical to understand that infertility impacts both men and women and can significantly influence their mental and emotional health. In infertile couples‟ relationships, women express more distress than their male counterparts. In order to deal with the circumstances, to achieve emotional stability, and reclaim control over their life, women turn to a variety of coping mechanisms. Depending on the circumstances, infertile women choose different coping techniques. This present study aimed to contribute in an effort to better understand well-being of infertile women, stress of infertility and ways to cope with the situation. A total number of 100 infertile women between the age of 25 to 40 years comprised the sample. Well-being of infertile women was assessed using a self-designed questionnaire. Stress levels of infertile women was assessed using Depression anxiety stress scale (DASS) by Lovibond, S.H. and Lovibond, P.E. (1995), Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) by Newton (1999) was also used to assess fertility problem and Coping patterns of infertile was assessed using a self-designed questionnaire. Observed findings indicated that nearly half of women faced moderate levels of stress. More than half of infertile women used high planned-problem solving and moderate self-control coping mechanisms among all other coping mechanisms. Also, negative relationships between well-being and depression, anxiety, and stress indicated that higher levels of stress were associated with lower levels of well-being which means that women who had more stress indicated lower well-being. The present study has revealed that the factors influencing the well-being of infertile women included age, duration of marriage and duration of infertility. Moreover, stress in infertile women was affected by age at the time of marriage, duration of marriage and education. The study also suggested that personal variables can influence coping mechanisms in response to infertility.