Infertility treatment? Adoption? Remaining childless? Psychological consequences of each decision

Abstract

Background: Coping with infertility demands taking life-changing decisions. Therefore a full analysis of psychological aspects of experiencing infertility should take into consideration all possible ways of coping with the problem. Methods: The study included 1,044 women in different stages of experiencing infertility – i.e. women undergoing infertility treatment and adoption procedures, women having a child thanks to treatment or adoption, as well as women who decided to remain childless. Tools used in the study were: the original Attitudes towards Own Infertility Scale based on the Acceptance of Illness Scale AIS; HDS-M Scale (Zigmond, Snaith); the original Scale for Assessment of Hope as an Emotional State; the Satisfaction with Life Scale SWLS (Diener et al.); Mini-COPE – Stress Coping Inventory (Carver). Findings: In the study statistically significant differences were found between the perception of social support and its types (emotional, informational, material, institutional, from significant others), acceptance of one’s own infertility, levels of anxiety, depression, hope, satisfaction with life, and self-esteem based on the stage of experiencing infertility. The highest levels of factors suggesting better adaptation to the current state were observed in adoptive mothers, while the lowest levels of such factors were observed in women undergoing treatment or deciding to remain childless. Conclusions: The acquired results have applicatory value and can be employed in the process of creating professional psychoeducational programs, as well as in the process of providing support for women experiencing infertility.