Explaining the Mental Health Model Based on Integrative Self-knowledge and Social Support Mediated by Perceived Stress in Infertile Women

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Psychology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: Infertility is one of the painful experiences in women's lives, exerting dramatic effects on their mental health.
 
Objective: The present study aimed to explain the mental health model based on integrative self-knowledge and social support mediated by perceived stress in infertile women.
 
Methods: This study was conducted based on a descriptive-correlational design. Among the infertile women who were referred to Royan Infertility Center and Sarem Hospital in 2018, 250 subjects were selected via the convenience sampling method. The data collection instruments included the Self-Knowledge Scale by Ghorbani et al. (2003); Measure of Perceived Stress by Cohen et al. (2003), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support by Zimet et al. (1988), and Mental Health Inventory by Veit and Ware (1983). To analyze the obtained data, Spearman correlation coefficient (using SPSS software) and path analysis (using LISREL statistical software) were used.
 
Results: As evidenced by the obtained results, the structural model has an acceptable fit with the collected data. Moreover, integrative self-knowledge and social support were, directly and indirectly, related to mental health in infertile women with the mediating role of perceived stress. Integrative self-knowledge, social support, and perceived stress accounted for a total of 42% of the mental health variance in infertile women.
 
Conclusions: Considering the effects of psychological factors on infertility, as well as the adverse effects of infertility on couples' lives, it can be concluded that the assessment of psychological factors and their improvement can be of great help to infertile women.
 

Keywords

Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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