Influence of family and spiritual supports on coping with infertility among couples in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the influence of family and spiritual supports on coping with infertility among couples in Ibadan, Oyo state Nigeria. The study adopts a descriptive survey research. One Hundred and Seventy-five (175) couples were purposively selected. A self-structured and validated questionnaire with a reliability co-efficient value of 0.85 through the use of Cronbach alpha method was used for data collection. Four (4) trained research assistants helped in data collection. Analysis was done using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that family support greatly influence coping ability of couples attending family health clinic (r=0.846, df =173, p<0.05). It further revealed that, family support significantly influences emotional status of couples attending family health clinic (r=0.763, df =173, p<0.05). Finally, there is a significant influence of spiritual support on coping ability of couples attending family health clinic (r=0.840, df =173, p<0.05). The study concludes that there is a relationship between family and spiritual support and coping ability among couples expe infertility. It was recommended that family members should support couples experiencing infertility both psychologically, socially and spiritually to reduce depression, discrimination and stigmatization. The social workers and other health stake holdersriencing should create awareness about coping with infertility among couples. Government should subsidise treatment to restore hope among couples experiencing infertility.