Unfulfilled desire for pregnancy: gender and family differences in emotional burden among a Nigerian sample

The aims of this study were to compare anxiety and depressive symptoms between a sample of Nigerian women and their husbands on treatment for infertility, and to identify factors, which are associated with emotional burden in their families. In total, 82 women and their spouses completed the two subscales of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at the gynaecology clinics of a Nigerian teaching hospital. The women had a significantly higher mean anxiety score (p<0.001) and higher mean depression score (p <0,001) than their husbands. On both anxiety and depression subscales of the HADS, the scores of the women were positively correlated with their husbands' scores (p<00.1). Emotional burden in the family was significantly associated with low religious inclination of husband and wife; strained relationship of couple; extended family pressure on husband; husbands' negative attitude towards child adoption; and lower age group of wife. Women with infertility in this subregion experience higher emotional burden than their husbands. Psychological couple counselling is required to ameliorate the emotional burden of infertility imposed by these factors.