Factors influencing “perceived social support” in infertile couples undergoing assisted reproductive technologies
Saeedeh Lotfinikoo (IR), Azadeh Ghaheri (IR), Reza Omani Samani (IR)
[Lotfinikoo] Islamic Azad University, Semnan Branch, [Ghaheri] Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, [Omani Samani] Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR
Background: Infertility is considered a traumatic stressor for infertile couples, and failure to conceive becomes a psychosocial crisis for them. The feeling of inability to have a child in the society causes a lot of psychological pressure for this group. Social support plays a key role in how an individual adjust for life crisis. Among factors which affect social support, education, occupation, age, duration of infertility, etiology of infertility, history of abortion, family history of infertility, feeling pressure from the others and living place were evaluated. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, 350 infertile women were recruited by convenient sampling who were referred to the Royan institute for the first time and had no history of ART failure and had no chronic disease. This study was approved in ethical committee of Royan Institute. Social support was evaluated using the 12 item Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) questionnaire and for other parameters a demographic questionnaire was used. Data analysis includes regression and t score. P value p<0.05 were considered as significant. Results: The result showed significant correlation between social support with employment and feeling pressure from the others. Employment had positive effect (p=0.019) and feeling pressure from the others had negative effect (p=0.014). Conclusion: Employees can attract more social support and feeling pressure from the others can reduce social support. Psychological interventions may be needed for cope with this pressure.