Effects of Nursing Care Based on Watson's Theory of Human Caring on Anxiety, Distress, And Coping, When Infertility Treatment Fails: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Hülya Okumuş,Yeter Durgun Ozan

doi:10.15171/jcs.2017.010

Abstract

Introduction: The failure of infertility treatment leads to individual, familial, and social problems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the nursing care program based on Watson’s "Theory of Human Caring" on anxiety and distress caused by coping when the treatment fails. Methods: This study randomized controlled trial study was conducted from April to November 2012, with 86 Turkish women with infertility (intervention group: 45, control group: 41). Follow-up of 32 infertile women, who failed infertility treatment from intervention group, and 35 infertile women, who failed infertility treatment from control group, continued for another four weeks. Data were collected through Spiel Berger’s State/Trait Anxiety Inventory, Distress Scale, and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. The analyses of data were conducted using SPSS ver 13. Results: The intervention and control groups significantly differed in terms of anxiety, distress, and coping levels. The intervention group’s mean anxiety score decreased by thirteen points and distress by fourteen points (in a positive direction). The intervention group’s mean positive coping style score increased. Whereas a negative increase was observed in the control group’s values depending on the failure of the treatment. Conclusion: Watson’s theory of human caring is recommended as a guide to nursing patients with infertility treatment to decrease levels of anxiety and distress, and to increase the positive coping style among infertile women.

Highlights

The failure of infertility treatment leads to individual, familial, and social problems
The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a nursing care program based on Watson’s theory of human caring for managing distress caused by infertility, the accompanying anxiety, and for assisting the patient to cope when the treatment fails
At the beginning of the treatment, no significant difference was found between the intervention and control groups in terms of their demographic characteristics, age, educational status, work activity, income, social security, accommodation place, the treatment applied, infertility diagnosis, and the duration of treatment (P> 0.05), which indicated that the groups were homogeneous ( Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

The failure of infertility treatment leads to individual, familial, and social problems. Conclusion: Watson’s theory of human caring is recommended as a guide to nursing patients with infertility treatment to decrease levels of anxiety and distress, and to increase the positive coping style among infertile women. Infertility is a case of unexpected loss for the women, their husbands, and their families This situation requires adapting oneself to a life without children and coping with difficulties.[3] To avoid this stress and life crisis, individuals start searching for treatment alternatives, and most of the time, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is thought to be the solution. In studies carried out with infertile women, they reported that the most upsetting situation for them was the failure of the treatment.[5]

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Discussion

Conclusion