Health Promoting Lifestyle and its Relationship to Perceived Stress in Infertile Couples referring to Infertility Center, Tabriz, Al Zahra Hospital, 2013.

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Although having children and enjoying the pleasures of parenthood is the right of every women and man, yet again a large percentage of couples experience infertility. Despite the existence of mental and physical problems with infertility have shown, aspects of infertility are still unclear. To achieve success in the treatment and support of these people, it seems necessary to have knowledge about health –promoting lifestyle. Methods: This study is a cross –sectional, analytical one which was done on 322 infertile couples referring to the infertility center at Al Zahra hospital in Tabriz with convenience sampling method. The gathering data instruments included social –individual particulars questionnaire, health promoting lifestyle (HPLPII) and perceived stress scale (PSS) questionnaire which were completed by all couples individually. The multivariate linear regression analysis method was used for defining the social –individual predictors of perceived stress. To determine the relationship between health promoting lifestyle with perceived stress and socio- demographic characteristics, multivariate linear regression analysis was used. Results: The average score of health –promoting lifestyle in couples was 2.1 (0.4) of the achievable score range from 1 to 4. The highest score was for to nutrition {2.6 (0.5)} for men and women and the lowest score was for physical activity {2.01 (0.5)} in women and men {2.3 (0.5)} in both couples. Educational level, cause of infertility, sufficiency of income for living expense and living situation were predictors of health –promoting lifestyle. The mean (SD) score of perceived stress in women was 27.4 (6.0) and 25.9 (5.3) among men out of 0-56 grade range and there was statistically significant difference between men and women due to perceived stress (p<0.001). The variable of sufficiency of income for living expense, cause of infertility, living situation, type of current treatment, cause of treatment and Job were predictors of perceived stress. The negative correlation (p<0.001) were observed between health promoting behavior and perceived stress in both men and women. Conclusion: The results of this research showed higher perceived among women compared to men; therefore it is necessary to provide approaches for reducing the perceived stress focusing on its predictive variables of health –promoting behaviors for recovering the couples' mental status.