Comparison of perceived social support in fertile and infertile women

BACKGROUND: Infertility in women has socio-psychological consequences, that existence and understanding of social support has a great importance role in life of infertile women. But the fact that the understanding of social support in fertile women is higher than infertile women, is still debated.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the comparison of perceived social support (PPS) in fertile and infertile women.METHODS: The present study was a case-control study and was performed in two groups and one stage in fertile and infertile women referring to Al-Zahra Educational, Research and Medical Hospital in ۲۰۲۱. Data collection was done by using available and convenience sampling method. The samples in this study included ۳۴۴ (۱۷۲ infertile women and ۱۷۲ fertile women) whom referred to the infertility, gynecology and ultrasound clinics. The used data collection tools include: demographic information and psychometric perceived social support questionnaire. The mann-whitney test was used to compare the scores of perceived social support between fertile and infertile women.RESULTS: The mean age of fertile women was ۳۵.۴۳±۶.۲۰ years and infertile women were ۳۴.۴۷±۵.۸۸ years. Most women had a diploma (۴۶.۵% fertile and ۳۹.۵% infertile) and a housewife (۸۶% fertile and ۸۲% infertile). Duration of infertility was ۵/۹۸±۴/۹۸. There was no statistically significant difference between the total score PPS of fertile women (۵۸±۱۵) and infertile women (۵۸.۴±۱۶), (P <۰.۸۴۹). Also, there was no statistically significant difference between fertile and infertile women's PPS scores in subscales of friends (P = ۰.۳۷۲) and significant other (P = ۰.۹۶۷). According to the findings, the scores of PPS in the subscales of family in infertile women were significantly higher than fertile women (P = ۰.۰۴۵).CONCLUSION: Based on this findings, PPS wasn’t different between fertile and infertile women, and due to the study gap in PPS in infertile women, further studies are recommended to investigate the extent of PPS in infertile women.

کلیدواژه ها:

Perceived Social Support ، Fertility ، Infertility