The relation between social support and stress in treatment of infertility in infertile couples referred to infertility centers of Isfahan in 2007

Experiencing infertility is a crisis in couples'' life, affecting all aspects of their life. In addition to stresses of infertility problems, going through treatment is also associated with physical, psychological, social and economic stress. Therefore, identifying social factors especially social support related to stress of infertility treatments seems necessary. This study investigates the relationship between social support and stress of infertility treatment. It is a descriptive correlative study on 75 couples (150 subjects) who referred to clinics of Isfahan for professional treatment of infertility. The sampling method was simple and the subjects were selected based on entry criteria. Data were collected by a questionnaire completed by interview and included personal and social characteristics, infertility treatment stress and social support. The mean score of infertility treatment related stress was 58.68 and 86.7% of couples experienced average to severe stress in professional treatments for infertility. The highest and lowest score of social support were 23.28 and 84.45 for spouse support and 2nd and 3rd level relatives, respectively. There was an inverse correlation between social support and infertility treatment related stress (p = 0.0001). Also, there was a significant relation between age, sex, and career with infertility treatment stress. Considering the findings of the study, it seems necessary to provide educational courses for couples on different techniques of reducing stress, counseling and information and emotional support by health personnel as well as general education of families on how to provide support for couples.