The Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Psychological Distress among Infertile Women

Infertility, as an important stressful factor in women’s lives, leads to an increase in psychological distress. Self-efficacy is one of the determinants, which is considered one of the basic structures of mental health. This study was conducted to measure the relationship between self-efficacy and psychological distress in infertile women.

This descriptive correlational study was done on 205 infertile women attended Milad Infertility Research Center in Mashhad, Iran, who were selected via convenience sampling. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Tara Infertility Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and the Akios Infertility Distress Questionnaire. Infertile women who met the inclusion criteria completed the questionnaires in a self-report basis. The data was analyzed with SPSS 20 using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient tests.

The mean score of self-efficacy was moderate (51.70±12.29) and the mean score of infertility-related distress was relatively high (81.38 13± 13.14). There was a direct and significant relationship between self-efficacy and infertility-related distress (P = 0.001), i.e., higher self-efficacy was associated with less infertility-related distress. There was no significant relationship between either self-efficacy or infertility-related distress with women’s age, education, length of marriage, duration of infertility, and duration of infertility treatment.

It is recommended to incorporate self-efficacy promotion programs into the treatment process of infertile couples in order to control the adverse psychological effects of infertility such as infertility distress.