Investigating different dimensions of infertile women's quality of life: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Latent Profile Analysis of Stigma in Infertile Women and its Influencing Factors

PURPOSE

Infertility, a global health challenge, often leads to stigma for affected women. This stigma brings negative impacts to infertile women, and is influenced by several factors. Research to date treats infertile women as a homogeneous group based on their stigma. We attempted to identify subgroups based on their stigma and explored variables associated with subgroups.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was utilized, involving 439 infertile women. General information questionnaire, Infertility Stigma Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Chinese version of the Infertility Self-Efficacy Scale were used. Latent profile analysis was performed to categorize potential stigma profiles in infertile women. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was employed to explore the influencing factors of stigma among infertile women in different latent profiles.

RESULTS

Four hundred thirty-nine infertile women were divided into three stigma profiles: low stigma level-light public stigma group (41.5%), medium stigma level-light public stigma group (48.0%), and high stigma level-deep public stigma group (10.5%). Multinomial logistic regression showed that education level, per capita family income status, duration of infertility, duration of infertility treatments, perceived social support, and self-efficacy were the influencing factors of stigma in three latent profiles.

CONCLUSION

Stigma in infertile women can be divided into three potential profiles, which had obvious classification characteristics. In these different latent profiles, there are differences in education level, per capita family income, duration of infertility, duration of infertility treatments, perceived social support, and self-efficacy. Social withdrawal is a common and severe issue faced by infertile women. Additionally, infertile women with high stigma levels often suffer from more severe public stigma.

A Secondary Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Study to Examine Factors Associated with Marital Benefit Among U.S. Women with Infertility

Infertility in women causes profound psychological distress and may affect the coupled relationship. Few studies have considered the strengthening of the relationship, or marital benefit, of women with infertility. This study sought to investigate factors associated with marital benefit, such as infertility-related stress, partner communication, sexual satisfaction, coping strategies, and quality of life satisfaction. We used a descriptive cross-sectional study design to recruit 197 U.S. women with infertility who were undergoing fertility treatments from infertility-related Facebook support groups to complete an online survey. We used SPSS 28 to conduct descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression. Partner communication, sexual satisfaction, primary infertility, meaning-based coping, marital stress, quality of life satisfaction, and attending a support group were significantly associated with marital benefit. The multiple linear regression model accounted for 43% of the variance in marital benefit, and six variables had a significant relationship with marital benefit: meaning-based coping (p <.001), marital stress (p = .003), partner communication (p <.003), primary infertility (p = .014), active-avoidance coping (p = .020), and attending a support group (p = .006). Interventions to decrease marital stress and improve coping and partner communication could be beneficial to facilitating marital benefit in women with infertility.

Determinants of Quality of Life in Serbian Infertile Couples

Background

This study aimed to examine the quality of life and the factors that determine the quality of life of infertile couples.

Methods

The research was conducted as a cross-sectional study at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic "Narodni Front" in Belgrade, the Special Gynecology Hospital "Ferona" in Novi Sad, the Special Hospital for the Treatment of Sterility and In Vitro Fertilization "Spebo Medikal" in Leskovac and the General Hospital in Valjevo, Serbia in 2022, on a sample of 378 infertile couples. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire, the integral part of which is the standardized FertiQoL scale. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to determine differences. A value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Women achieve a significantly lower score on the quality of life questionnaire (69.34±11.05) compared to men (73.96±9.87). Women exhibit significantly lower scores in the area of physical, emotional and social functioning (P<0.05). Men who live in the countryside show a lower quality of life score in the emotional (P=0.029) and social (P=0.042) domains. In addition, men over 40 years of age and with a high level of education have a lower quality of life (P=0.08).

Conclusion

Women have a lower quality of life, as do men from rural areas and over 40 years of age. A multi-disciplinary approach and community education, as well as the provision of social support with a special emphasis on emotional and material support, would significantly contribute to improving the quality of life of infertile couples.

Psychosocial Impact of Infertility Diagnosis and Conformity to Gender Norms on the Quality of Life of Infertile Spanish Couples

Epidemiological data show that human reproductive disorders are a common problem worldwide, affecting almost one in six people of reproductive age. As a result, infertility has been identified by the World Health Organization as a public health disease. Reproductive problems can take a heavy toll on the psychosocial well-being of couples suffering from infertility. This is especially true for women, who tend to be the ones who undergo the most treatment. The main objective of the present study is to find out whether a sex-based infertility diagnosis influences the quality of life of couples with infertility. Also, we aim to find out whether the degree of adherence to gender norms influences their quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire (FertiQoL) and the Conformity to Feminine and Masculine Norms Inventories in a sample of 219 infertile Spanish couples (438 participants). The results show that, in all cases, regardless of the degree of conformity to gender norms and whether the infertility diagnosis was of female or male origin, women have lower scores on the self-perceived quality of life. This suggests that being female is already a psychosocial risk factor when assessing the psychosocial consequences of infertility.

Efficacy of Dry Cupping versus Counselling with Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Approach on Fertility Quality of Life and Conception Success in Infertile Women due to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

Background

Physical and psychological interventions could affect the quality of life (QoL) of women with infertility. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of dry cupping and counselling with the mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) approach on fertility QoL and conception success in infertile women due to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods

This was a two-arm pilot randomized clinical trial from first January 2021 to the end of November 2022. In this regard, 19 women with infertility who were referred to the health centers affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Participants were randomly divided into two groups (10 in the virtual MBCT group and 9 in the cupping group). All participants completed the fertility quality of life (FertiQol) tool before the intervention and three months after the end of the intervention. In addition, after the end of the intervention, a human chorionic gonadotropin test was performed monthly for three months, too. We used ANOVA/ANCOVA and its related effect sizes, including mean difference (MD) and standard mean difference (SMD: Hedges's g), and chi-square tests to compare the study group outcomes in Stata 14.2. P-values equal to or less than 0.10 were considered significant.

Results

The intervention resulted in significant differences in the mean overall scores of FertiQol between the counseling and cupping groups (61.76±14.28 and 50.65±12.53, respectively) [P=0.091, MD=11.11 (90% CI: 0.33 to 21.89), SMD=1.07 (90% CI: 0.279 to 1.84)]. No significant difference was found in conception rates between the groups after the intervention.

Conclusion

This pilot study found that MBCT improved the fertility QoL in PCOS-related infertility patients better than cupping therapy.

Trial registration

IRCT201706110334452N1.