Objective: To investigate the psychosocial factors, including personality characteristics, coping style, social support and alexithymia of infertile patients, and explore the relevant factors regarding the medical coping style choice of infertile patients in central China.
Methods: Sixty infertile patients in the reproductive medicine centre in our hospital were investigated using a self-made general situation questionnaire; internal control, powerful others and opportunities scale; social support rating scale; and medical coping questionnaire, and the data was analysed.
Results: Of the 60 infertile patients, 57 (95%) were female, with an average age of 27.85 ± 14.52 years old, and 42 (70%) had secondary infertility. The score of the face dimension was lower than the norm (19.17 ± 2.18 vs 19.43 ± 3.82, P = 0.012), and those of the avoidance (15.98 ± 2.43 vs 14.41 ± 2. 94, P = 0.030) and yield (9.48 ± 3.19 vs 8.83 ± 3.19, P = 0.012) dimensions were higher than the norm. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that internal control and the utilisation of support were influencing factors for the coping style (R² = 0.271, adjusted R² = 0.144, F = 9.827, P < 0.001), and internal control was the influencing factor for the avoidance coping style (R² = 0.024, adjusted R² = 0.021, F = 3.363, P = 0.014). The education level, opportunity and utilisation of support factors influenced the yield dimension (R² = 0.087, adjusted R² = 0.076, F = 7.749, P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Considering the association between the coping styles and psychosocial factors, it was recommended to formulate targeted intervention strategies based on these influencing factors to guide patients to adopt positive coping styles and achieve good outcomes.
Keywords: infertility, coping style, psychosocial factors, relevance