Coping Strategies of Infertility Clients Attending Gynecological Clinic in South-eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Infertility is the failure of a couple to achieve pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. It causes psychological and social consequences for couples. This study aimed to ascertain the “Coping strategies of infertility clients attending gynecological clinic in South-eastern Nigeria.”

Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was used. One hundred and twenty participants were drawn from a population of one hundred and fifty clients, using the power analysis formula of sample size calculation. Participants were selected using a purposive sampling technique. One hundred and seventeen participants were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used at a 0.05 level of significance. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: Majority of the participants use self-controlling, positive reappraisal coping strategy, and social seeking support strategy. There is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female participants with infertility on their use of coping strategies. The respondents used more self-controlling (86.3%) strategies than they used positive reappraisal (62.4%), escape‐avoidance (59.8%), and other coping strategies (47.0%) and these showed statistical significance (P < 0.05). Even though they used social support seeking as much as they used self‐controlling strategies, this finding was not significant (P > 0.05). Furthermore, gender was found to have a significant influence on the coping strategies among the study participants (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The couple’s capacity to adapt to infertility-related stress depends on the coping strategies, which have different impacts on individuals’ mental health. Hence, this study suggested the need for health-care providers to integrate psychological counseling into the care of clients with infertility challenges.