Self-esteem and associated factors among Thai female patients at Infertility Clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background : Infertility has major impacts on women’s mental health. Infertility treatments are time and budget - consuming and the result of treatment is unpredictable. Repeated failures or inability to conceive may lead to the feeling of unfulfillment of a woman. However, studies related to self-esteem in this group of patients are few.

Objective : To assess the level of self-esteem and to investigate the associated factors of female infertility.

Design : A cross - sectional descriptive study.

Setting : Infertility Clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Materials and Methods : Data were collected from 113 female patients at the Infertility Clinic. Subjects were asked to complete 4 self-report questionnaires which included:

1) personal information questionnaire;

2) Infertility information questionnaire;

3) The Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale (RSE) - Thai version;

4) Jalowiec Coping Scale - Thai version. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate the level of self-esteem, and univariate analysis was used to identify factors associated with low self-esteem.

Results : The mean self-esteem score in this group of female infertile patients is 31.87 (SD = 4.09). When using mean -1 SD as a cut-off point, there were 13 subjects (11.5%) categorized into low self-esteem group. There were 7 factors significantly associated with low self-esteem which included personal income, currently stay with in-law family, height, age at menarche, duration of menstruation, hysterosalpingography and emotional focused coping. From logistic regression analysis revealed 3 factors, namely: age at menarche, duration of menstrual bleeding, and
emotional focused coping which are still significantly associated with low self-esteem.

Conclusion : Self-esteem in this population is lower than healthy reproductiveage women, but comparable with other infertility studies in women. The factors associated with self-esteem include both biological and coping factors.