Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Steven Little

Abstract

Not having a child has significant psychosocial effects on women experiencing infertility problems. There is a gap in research on social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of women during infertility, fertility treatment, and subsequent pregnancy. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to investigate the social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of Turkish women with infertility issues and Turkish women who conceived after infertility treatment, as measured by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale II. The social support and stress buffering theory and the health promotion model provided the framework for the study. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to evaluate 200 women undergoing infertility treatment and women who conceived after infertility treatment on social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The results indicated that women undergoing infertility treatment had higher social anxiety and avoidance and higher nutritive healthy lifestyle behaviors than women who conceived after infertility treatment. There was no difference in quality of life between the groups. Findings may promote a better understanding of social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of women undergoing infertility treatment. This heightened awareness may be used to increase psychosocial well-being of women and may increase the success rate of infertility treatment.

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