Evaluating the Perception for Psychological and Social Impact of Infertility among Libyans
Authors:   Obstetrician and Gynecologist/Community Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tripoli University Hospital, Tripoli, Libya, Ajaj Khuloud , Ben Amer Khadija ,   Consultant of Family Medicine and Diabetologist, Tripoli, Libya
Published: September 2023

Background: The infertility is defined as inability to conceive after one year of regular unprotected sexual intercourse which classified into primary or secondary infertility. Several studies had proven the adverse impacts of psychological and social aspects on infertile couples and the reported prevalence of psychological problems were estimated between 25 to 60%. Thence, emerging the psychological interventions among infertile couples are positively correlated with fewer psychological distress, higher rates of pregnancy and improving marital satisfaction. Objective: To evaluate the perception for psychological and social impact of infertility among Libyans. Methods and Materials: This study was cross-sectional which conducted during July 2022 by using an electronic questionnaire survey. 154 participants had responded during the study period and the collected data had entered, encoded and analyzed by using SPSS version 20 to illustrated the descriptive statistics variables. Results: We studied 154 Libyan participants which respond to electronic survey during July 2022.Majority of participants were females with predominance percentage 92.9% (143) while just 7.1% (11) were males.The most frequent age range were between 34 to 41 years which accounts 35.7% (55) followed by 28.6% (44) for age range between 26 to 33 years. Most of responders had university educational level which scored 77.9% (120). Regarding the marital status, majority of them were married which accounts 81.8% (126) while 16.2% (25) were single and only three (1.9%) were divorced. Among the married group (126 participants) and divorced group (three participants), 72.1% (93) of them had expressed history of infertility issues and delayed childbearing which almost of them reported to had suffered from psychosocial problems. On assess the perception of participants regarding the effect of the psychological factor on patients with infertility and delayed childbearing, the minimum percentage was 71.4% while the maximum percentage was 93.5% which considered to be high perception level. While on determine the perception of participants regarding the impact of the social factor on patients with infertility and delayed childbearing, the minimum percentage was 56.6% while the maximum percentage was 93.5%. On demonstrate the perception of participants regarding the effect of warfare remnants on infertility, 90.3% had perception to negative effect of warfare to women mental health and 89.6% had perception to negative effect of warfare to men mental health. And both considered to be high perception level. Lastly, on evaluate the perception of participants regarding the psychological effect of Corona pandemic which contributed to delayed childbearing and infertility, 74.7% (115) had expressed relatively to consider high perception. Conclusion: The perception of the participants regarding the impact of the psychological and social factors on infertility and delayed childbearing was considered to be high with positive results reported. Therefore, maintaining the health education approach is basic and essential pillars for raising health awareness particularly among infertile couples along with providing psychological and social support for that group during the treatment journey are important to accomplish favorable management outcomes.