Psycho-social aspects of infertility-a review of current trends.

Abstract

Background: To determine the social and psychological effects of infertility along with the effect of education and spouse support on bearing of social pressures and hopefulness about future. Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study. Setting: Infertility clinics of Public sector and private sector hospitals. Period: Three months from January to March 2017. Material & Methods: A total of 90 couples were selected using consecutive sampling technique. Questionnaire included the education and occupation of husband and wife, monthly income, years of marriage, cause of infertility, expenditure on treatment, first response to infertility, reaction of spouse and in-laws, effect of infertility on social life, and associated psychological problems. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: In 13% of cases the problem was in husband, 41% in wife, and in rest of cases it was un-explained. In 57.8% couples, situation was stressful for both, in 35.5% couples it was more for wives. The response towards infertility was sadness 69%, guilt 12% followed by loneliness 10%. Majority (82%) of spouse were supportive. 32% couples experienced too much pressure.60% couples were hopeful, 22% depressed and 18% neutral about future. Spouse support increases from 67% in illiterate to 95% in highly educated. Social pressures were less where there was strong spouse support. Conclusion: Infertility not only increases social pressures and affect the social life of couple but can pose danger to psychological health as well. These adverse effects are lessened in couples with better education and strong spouse support.