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Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
Published in: Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 11/2011

01-11-2011 | ASSISTED REPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

Resilience in infertile couples acts as a protective factor against infertility-specific distress and impaired quality of life

Authors: Darja Herrmann, Horst Scherg, Rolf Verres, Cornelia von Hagens, Thomas Strowitzki, Tewes Wischmann

Published in: Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics | Issue 11/2011

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Abstract

Objective

Our hypothesis was that resilience (=psychosocial stress-resistance) reduces infertility-specific distress and maintains quality of life of infertile couples.

Methods

Questionnaire data of WHO Quality of Life assessment (WHOQOL; domains: ‘physical’, ‘psychological’, ‘social relationships’ and ‘environment’), Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI; scales: ‘social concern’, ‘sexual concern’, ‘relationship concern’, ‘rejection of childfree lifestyle’ and ‘need for parenthood’), Resilience Scale (RS), as well as sociographic and medical data were available for 199 infertile couples.

Results

Age, medical diagnosis and ‘intensity of desire for a child’ had no influence on quality of life. High scores on ‘suffering from childlessness’ went along with less satisfaction on ‘physical’ and ‘psychological’ domains for the women only. For both partners, high scores on ‘suffering from childlessness’ went along with higher scores on all FPI scales. High resilience was associated with high scores on all WHOQOL domains for both partners, also with low scores on all FPI scales except for ‘need for parenthood’ for the women and with a low score only on ’relationship concern’ for the men.

Conclusions

For infertile couples, resilience can be considered as an unspecific protective factor against infertility-specific distress and impaired quality of life. When offering counselling to involuntarily childless couples, awareness should be raised for resilience as a couple’s resource and a “generic” factor of coping.
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Metadata
Title
Resilience in infertile couples acts as a protective factor against infertility-specific distress and impaired quality of life
Authors
Darja Herrmann
Horst Scherg
Rolf Verres
Cornelia von Hagens
Thomas Strowitzki
Tewes Wischmann
Publication date
01-11-2011
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics / Issue 11/2011
Print ISSN: 1058-0468
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7330
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-011-9637-2

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