Maha Gillani¹, Fatima Kamran¹*, Masha Asad², Rafia Rafique¹, Abeer Alkeshnam³ and Iqra Nazar¹

¹Institute of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
²Department of Psychology, Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan
³Department of Psychology, University of Kuwait, Kuwait

*Corresponding Author: Fatima Kamran, Institute of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

Received: April 11, 2023; Published: June 04, 2023

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the extent to which Pakistani seeking infertility treatment perceived themselves as stigmatized. We examined, how women with primary and secondary infertility differed in perceived QoL. A cross sectional study, using purposive sampling technique was used to gather data comprising of (N = 122) women seeking treatment for primary and secondary infertility from different hospitals and fertility centers of the Lahore. Assessment measures included; Demographic and Clinical Information Sheet, Infertility Stigma Scale (ISS) Fu., et al, (2014), Infertility Distress Scale (IDS) Akyuz, Gurhan and Baklr (2008) and Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQol) Human Reproduction and Embryology and American Society of Reproductive Medicine. The findings revealed that most of the women with primary infertility (40.2%) in this sample felt stigmatized. Women with primary infertility tend to report higher level of infertility distress and lower QoL as compared to women with secondary infertility. The findings also revealed that; living in a nuclear family system, older age, resulted in increased infertility related stigma and distress with poorer QoL. Also, women with higher levels of education experienced less stigmatization, felt less infertility-related stress and reported better QoL. Furthermore, the current study showed that perceived stigmatization was found to be significant predictor of QoL. Whereas, infertility related stress appeared as significant moderator between stigmatization and QoL. The study provides indigenous data to add towards the research literature related to infertility related stress and infertility related stigma in Pakistani women. This research has significant implications for screening and referring women with infertility issues for management of psychological issues to improve their psychological well-being and overall QoL. As per the current study, infertile women's social standing derived from other characteristics may be crucial in reducing the stigmatization and stress associated with infertility. These results emphasize the wider positive effects of expanding education programs for women and girls.

Keywords: Infertility; Perceived Stigmatization; Infertility Related Stress; Quality of Life

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Citation

Citation: Fatima Kamran., et al. “Perceived Stigmatization, Infertility-related Stress and Quality of Life of Women with Infertility". Acta Scientific Neurology 6.8 (2023): 16-23.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Fatima Kamran., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.