Psychological and Social Effects of Infertility on Women: A Mixed Method Research

Abstract

Background: Infertility is one of the most devastating experiences among infertile women in Nigeria. This is due to the socio-cultural significance attached to childbearing in Nigerian society. This study was conducted to assess and explore the psychological and social effects of infertility, identify the support system and coping strategies available to and utilized by infertile women selected from Gynecological Clinic of Owo Federal Medical Centre. Methods: The current research was a cross-sectional study and it used a convergent mixed method approach to collect data from September, 2017 to January, 2018. Structured questionnaire and in-depth interview guide were used to collect data from 152 and 10 infertile women who were selected by purposive sampling. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistics regression in SPSS20 at 0.05 level of significance. The interviews were analyzed via content analysis. Results: The most prevalent psychological and social effects of infertility experienced by the women were frustration with the different treatment procedures (79.6%) and having sex for purpose of procreation only (78.9%). Higher age (OR = 2.95, CI = 1.68 - 5.29, P=0.01), monogamous family (OR = 6.70, CI = 1.68 - 26.74, P = 0.01) and parity (OR = 4.21, CI = 0.42 - 41.76, P=0.03) significantly influenced psychological effects of infertility while zero parity (OR =1.34, CI = 0.89 - 4.56, P = 0.01) was the only factor that significantly determine the social effects of infertility. The qualitative results show that the women experienced a range of psychological and social issues ranging from grief to negative self-concept, inordinate desire for sexual intercourse, societal stigma, social withdrawal and isolation. Conclusion: The study concluded that infertile women experience a range of psychological and social issues. The findings from both the quantitative and qualitative assessment indicated the need to provide more psychosocial support for women with infertility.