The impact of infertility stigma on quality of life of infertile women: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Facing infertility and its treatment has many adverse emotional, social, and economic effects on couples, especially women. Stigma is one of the negative experiences for women during infertility, which may affect their quality of life. This study aimed to determine whether infertility stigma impacts the quality of life of Iranian infertile women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 400 infertile women, including 237 with primary infertility and 163 with secondary infertility, were recruited using a convenience sampling method from Fatemieh Infertility Center in Hamadan, Iran. The sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, quality of life questionnaire for infertile women (QOL-QIW), and female infertility stigma instrument (ISI-F) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t -test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression model through SPSS 16. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 32.79 ± 7.14 years. The mean total scores of infertile women’s quality of life and female infertility stigma were 80.88 ± 14.25 (25-125) and 59.71 ± 13.43 (20-100), respectively. According to the results of the multiple linear regression model, the final predictors of infertile women’s quality of life were infertility stigma (B = -0.653, P < 0.001), type of infertility (B = 3.505, P = 0.002), age (B = -0.248, P = 0.023), and marriage duration (B = -0.360, P = 0.025). CONCLUSION: The results indicated that women with primary infertility, higher perception of infertility stigma, older age, and longer marriage duration had a lower quality of life. Healthcare providers and policymakers can use these results to design effective and multidimensional interventions at the individual, family, and social levels to reduce stigma and, as a result, improve the quality of life of infertile women.