Mental Health among the Infertile Women Attending Tertiary Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Infertility is a global public health issue and is a low control stressor often leading to increased level of depression, anxiety and stress. It is a severely distressing experience for many couples and it may significantly affect the physical and mental life of infertile individuals. The study was to assess the level of mental health state (depression, anxiety and stress) among the infertile women in tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted at two tertiary level hospitals in Bangladesh named BSMMU and CARe Medical College. Three hundred and fifty-two (352) infertile women were taken as a sample and a semi-structured questionnaire which contains question with related variables and DASS 21 was used. The study results revealed that, the mean age of the respondents was 29.32 years. Almost three-fourth 260(73.86%) of the respondents were Muslim and 349(99.14%) respondents were educated. Two-third 223(63.35%) of the respondents were from rural area and 177(50%) were housewife. About 229(65.05%) were live in a joint family and 205(58.23%) had an abortion history. Majority 312(88.63%) of the respondents had monthly income BDT <30000 Taka. According to DASS 21, 175(49.71%) had depression, 212(60.22%) had anxiety and 157(44.60%) suffered from stress. There was a significant association (p<0.05) found between mental health state with age, religion, residence and occupation. This finding reinforces the need of attention counseling and others advance psychological interventions for positive impact on outcome during treatment of this group of women.