Stigma, hopelessness and coping experiences of Turkish women with infertility

Objective: This study aims to determine the stigma and hopelessness infertile women face in their lives, besides their ways to cope with it. Background: In many cultures, pregnancy and parenthood as an important transition point of one's life are perceived insufficiency in reproduction mostly leading to social stigma. Infertile women also experience negative feelings like anxiety, depression, and hopelessness, which makes ways to cope with infertility significant for a sense of stability. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 278 infertile women who applied for treatment between December 2017 and April 2018 at the Medicine Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Department of the Istanbul University Hospital. The data were collected using Infertility Stigmatisation Scale (ISS), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and COPE Inventory (COPE). Results: The ISS score was 47.54 ± 18.60, BHS score was 3.81 ± 2.87, COPE problem-focused subscale score was 37.47 ± 8.42, COPE emotion-focused subscale core was 47.95 ± 6.28 and COPE non-functional coping subscale score was 37.63 ± 6.18. Conclusion: As a result of this study, it was found that infertile women experienced mild stigmatisation and minimal hopelessness. It was determined that infertile women more used religious coping strategy, one of the emotion-focused coping ways.