A Study of Couple Burnout in Infertile Couples

Abstract

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION:</strong> Infertility is a major crisis that can cause psychological problems and emotionally distressing experiences, and eventually affect a couples' relationship. The objective of this study is to investigate couple burnout in infertile couples who were undergoing treatmentat the Infertility Clinic of Yazd, Iran.</p> <p><strong>METHOD: </strong>The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive one on 98 infertile couples referringto the Infertility Centerof Yazd, Iran, who were chosen on a simple random sampling basis. The measuring tools consisted of the Couple Burnout Measure (CBM) and a demographic questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and the statistical tests of ANOVA and t-test.P-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.</p> <p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The results show that infertile women experience higher levels of couple burnout than their husbands (p&lt;0.001). Also, a comparison of the scales of couple burnout—psychological burnout (p&lt;0.01), somatic burnout (p&lt;0.01), and emotional burnout (p&lt;0.001)—between wives and husbands show that women are at greater risk.</p> <p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Infertile couples' emotional, mental, and sexual problems need to be addressed as part of the infertility treatment programs, and psychotherapists should be included in the medical team.</p>