[Parenting stress in women who concieved using assisted reproductive technology]

Infertile women suffer chronic stress, which may negatively impact their parenting relationships if they later succeed in bearing children. The purpose of this study was to explore the parenting stress of mothers attending assisted an reproductive program and to compare it with the parenting stress of mothers with natural pregnancies. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit 54 mothers attending an In Vitro Fertilization/Embryo Transfer and Tubal Embryo Transfer program at an infertility center in central Taiwan. Three instruments were used to collect data: the Demographic Data Form, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form and Family Adaptation Partnership Growth Affective Relation Index. The data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods. (1) The results indicated that the highest average score in parenting stress for mothers receiving reproductive technology was for "parental distress". These results revealed that the main source of parenting stress was their parental role. (2) Family function varied significantly with parenting stress. (3) Parenting stress was significantly greater in mothers with natural pregnancy than in mothers attending the assisted reproductive program. Recommendations for clinical application and future research are also made. The implications of the study may be used to assist infertile women in coping with parenting roles. Furthermore, a qualitative study is suggested to understand the factors which cause parenting stress.