A cross-sectional study: Depression, anxiety and stress among infertile women in comparison with fertile ones
Florentina-Larisa Foti, Adina Karner Huțuleac
The main objective of the study was to measure depression, anxiety and stress in infertile women compared with fertile ones, who already have at least one child. Secondary objectives were to identify if there is a significant difference in levels of depression, stress and anxiety depending on the duration of infertility, the diagnosis underlying it and its type (medically explained or unexplained). The study was conducted with the participation of 154 woman (81 infertile and 73 fertile), from Romania. Through Google Forms, after informed consent was obtained, the women were asked to fill a drawn-up questionnaire with socio-demographic data and the DASS- 21 questionnaire for depression-anxiety-stress (D.A.S.) assessment. In the next step, the data were analyzed through statistical methods. The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups (infertile vs. fertile) in terms of depression, stress and anxiety. There were no significant differences in the levels of depression, stress and anxiety depending on the duration of the infertility, the type of it (known or unknown cause) or depending on the medical cause underlying this diagnosis. It may seem, in the group of this study, the diagnosis of infertility came like an earthquake which has almost the same intensity day by day, year by year. In this case, we can say that providing psychotherapeutic assistance should be mandatory for these women.
Female infertility, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Unexplained infertility
Florentina-Larisa Foti – Faculty of Psychology, Andrei Şaguna University, Constanţa, Romania, E-mail: larisa.foti@gmail.com
Adina Karner Huțuleac – Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iaşi, Romania
