International Journal of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Background: Infertility is usually associated with long-term stress, which can manifest as anxiety and depressive symptoms. The goal of this study is to look into the emotional well-being of couples dealing with infertility challenges, as well as to look into the causes of anxiety and despair in these couples.

Methods: The research was conducted in a government clinic set up at New Delhi, India with the participation of two hundred couples (400 participants), who were attending there for treatment purposes. The Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) and the Hamilton Depression Score (HAM-D) were utilized to develop the questionnaire. We also interviewed our subjects to find out more about their sociodemographic and fertility-related characteristics. To evaluate our hypotheses, we used independent-samples t-tests (M SD) and the chi-square test.

The objective of the study: The study's goal was to assess the stress and sadness experienced by infertile couples who visited government infertility clinics, as well as to determine the independent variables that may have been associated with infertility. These characteristics included age, sex, educational qualification, profession, infertility period, and type of family.

Results: Infertile women were younger (48% were in 26 to 30 years), while 40% of men were 31-35 years old. However, females experienced a much lower level of psychological well-being. Anxiety and depression in infertile couples were linked with age, marriage duration, social issues, sexual issues, and marital relationship tension. Financial stress was also associated with trait anxiety. Our method could explain 58 percent of the variance in depressive symptoms and 62 percent of the variance in anxiety-related symptoms.

Conclusions: Symptoms of depression and anxiety in infertile couples were present prominently. It caused an impact on marital & sexual relationships. It is essential to encourage the monitoring of these markers as well as the treatment of underlying stress through suitable psychological therapies.