Abstract
BackgroundThe mediating role of coping strategies and its relationship with psychological well-being and quality of life has been considered in the literature. However, there is little research to explore the mechanism of coping strategies on stigma and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in infertile women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET). The aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of coping strategies on the relationship between stigma and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in Chinese infertile women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET).MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, a total of 768 infertile women undergoing IVF-ET were recruited from Assisted Reproductive Center of Shaanxi Province, China. The personal information, infertility stigma scale, coping strategy scale and FertiQoL scale were measured using a set of questionnaires. The multiple mediator model was performed using AMOS 21.0.ResultsThe model showed a significant negative direct effect between stigma on FertiQoL. There were significantly negative indirect effects of stigma on FertiQoL through active-avoidance, active-confronting and passive-avoidance, respectively. The meaning-based coping played a positive intermediary role. The model explained 69.4% of the variance in FertiQoL.ConclusionActive-avoidance coping strategy is the most important mediator factor between stigma and FertiQoL in infertile women undergoing IVF-ET treatment. Meaning-based coping strategy plays a positive mediating role between stigma and FertiQoL.
Highlights
Infertility—characterized by the inability of an individual or couple to conceive or have a successful pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse—is a prevalent disease that affects over 186 million people worldwide [1, 2]
Our study results showed that avoidance coping strategy played the strongest stigma on FertiQoL. This has been demonstrated in previous studies where stigma was positively correlated with avoidance coping strategy, while avoidance coping strategy was negatively related to FertiQoL [26, 27]
In addition to the mediating effects of the four coping strategies, our results indicated that stigma may play an important role as an internal resource mediated by coping strategies in managing and controlling daily life among infertile women
Summary
Infertility—characterized by the inability of an individual or couple to conceive or have a successful pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse—is a prevalent disease that affects over 186 million people worldwide [1, 2]. Studies have convincingly demonstrated that when compared with their fertile counterparts, women undergoing infertility treatment experienced poorer FertiQoL. Numerous factors such as higher level of education, infertility-related stress and stigma has been shown to lower FertiQoL [9,10,11]. There is little research to explore the mechanism of coping strategies on stigma and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in infertile women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET). The aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of coping strategies on the relationship between stigma and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in Chinese infertile women undergoing In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET)
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