A Survey of Correlation Infertility Self-Efficacy with Behavioral Health Scales in Infertile Women

Abstract

Background: Infertility is a unique medical challenge that can have health behavioral consequence on infertile women including lack of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, fertility problem in infertile couples. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlation between self-efficacy and health behaviors scales in infertile women. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 89 infertile women with mild to moderate depression (Beck scores 10 - 47) who were recruited from Fatemeh Zahra Infertility and Reproductive Health Research Center. All participants completed Self-efficacy Inventory (ISE) and other health behavioral scales (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Cattle Anxiety Scale (CAS), Fertility Problem Infertility (FPI), and GHQ). Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman rho correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Variables were included in the study if they had a p-value of <0.05. Statistical analysis was performed SPSS 17. Results: The most of participants had totally high confident 53.9%, 41.6% moderately confident, and 4.5% low confident. Mean ISE score (±SD) for the overall infertile women was in the moderate range (6.18 ± 1.39). The lowest mean score in subscales of self-efficacy that infertile women reported was item “Accept that my best efforts may not change my/our infertility” (4.90 ± 3.41). There was the significant relationship between ISE with job (p = 0.016) and residency (p = 0.016) of infertile women. The employed infertile women have twice higher self-efficacy than unemployed women (62.7% vs 37.9%) and those who lived in the city had a higher level of confidence (75% vs. 53%). The infertile women with older age, higher education, and the more duration of infertility have the lower self-efficacy. There is the significantly negative correlation between the mean of ISE score with BDI (p = 0.018), overt anxiety (p = 0.11), CAI (p = 0.018), social concern of FPI (p = 0.003), and marital concern of FPI (0.025). Also a significant tendency was found between ISE and occult anxiety among infertile groups (p = 0.1). There is the significantly positive correlation between the mean of ISE score with GHQ (p = 0.004). Conclusions: Self-efficacy related to health behaviors scales, suggesting that having a psychological intervention can also facilitate the process of promoting self-efficacy.