1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND THE MARITAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE WOMEN ON INFERTILITY TREATMENT

Abstract : Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between depression, marital adjustment of the women receiving infertility treatment and the differentiation between depression, marital adjustment according to the sociodemographic variables. Methods: The study was run on women receiving infertility treatment in two separate centers who volunteered for the study by using sociodemographic survey form, Beck Depression Scale and Marital Adjustment Scale. The data was collected between April 2015-July 2015. Study group consisted of 228 women who applied for infertility treatment in the study period at two centers and who met the criteria and gave consent to the study. Data analyses were done using SPSS 21.0. In assessment of data, frequencies, percentages, means were used as well as Kruskall-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, Spearman correlation tests. Results were considered as significant when p value was less than 0,05. Results: Duration of infertility treatment was 3-5 years in 33,3 % of the women while another 13,2% received it for 6-10 years. While 95,6 % of women were informed about infertility treatment, 61,8 % was emotionally depressed because of being unable to bear a child. Depression scores and marital satisfaction scores of women were related significantly and inversely having a correlation coefficient of r= -0,656 and a significance level of p=0,000. Depression level was found to be a significant predictor of marital satisfaction (R=0,779, R2=0,607, p<0,05). We also detected that marital satisfaction scores of women differed significantly when groups were compared for duration of infertility (p=0,007); women who had infertility treatment for less than 1 year had significantly higher marital adjustment scores when compared to patients who received the treatment for 3-5 years and more than 11 years.

Keyword : Infertility, depression, marital adjustment