Aim and objectives. The aims of this study were to examine the
association between (1) occupational social class and coping responses,
(2) coping responses and infertility-related stress and (3) occupational
social class and infertility-related distress.
Background. The coping strategies that individuals use in most of the
stressful situations vary according to certain factors, such as, the
appraised characteristics of the stressful condition, personality
dispositions and social resources.
Design. This study was a cross-sectional survey.
Methods. The study involved 404 women undergoing infertility treatment
at a public clinic in Athens, Greece. State and trait anxiety
(State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), infertility-related stress (Copenhagen
Multi-centre Psychosocial Infertility) and coping strategies (Copenhagen
Multi-centre Psychosocial Infertility) were measured.
Results. Women of low/very low social class reported higher levels of
active-confronting coping compared with women of higher social class (p
< 0.001). A positive correlation between active-avoidance coping and
both state and trait anxiety (r = 0.278 and 0.233, respectively, p <
0.01) was observed. The passive-avoidance coping scale was positively
correlated with marital and personal stress (r = 0.186 and 0.146,
respectively, p < 0.01). All three kinds of stress (marital, personal
and social) were positively correlated with both active-avoidance (r =
0.302, 0.423 and 0.211, respectively, p < 0.01) and active-confronting
scale (r = 0.150, 0.211 and 0.141, respectively, p < 0.01).
Conclusions. Infertile women of the lowest social class used more
active-confronting coping and more passive-avoidance coping than women
of the highest social class. Factors such as low social class and
maladaptive coping strategies might contribute to infertility-related
stress and anxiety.
Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses and midwives who work in
infertility clinics should aim to identify individuals who are at high
risk for infertility stress and adjustment difficulties and they should
minimise the identified risk factors for infertility-related stress and
strengthen the protective factors
