Investigation of sexual activity dysfunction and quality of life of the couples having infertility problem

This study of has been performed in order to investigate effects of the infertility in couples suffering infertility problem on their sexual activities and life quality. The samples have been gathered with random sampling method among the 52 women and 55 men who had applied to Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Urology Policlinic in between the dates of 07.06.2011-31.01.2012. Data is based on the answers obtanied by the questionnaire which is prepared considering the related literature survey, Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale and WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale. Statistical characteristics of data have been done by under consideration of Pearson correlation test, T-test. It has been determined that the avarage age of infertile women who participated in the study is 28,21?6,45 and of infertile men is 32,36?5,96. The avarage time duration of infertile women not conceiving is 4,69?5,41 years, and the duration of receiving any kind of medical treatment due to of inferetelity is found to be 2,21?1,70 years respectively. The same duration for men is found to be 4,81?5,34 years, and the duration of receiving any medical treatment is 2,38?1,82 years. The cause of infertelity is not know for the 38,5 % of all the cases for women, and %28,8 of them indicated that they blame themselves as the root cause of infertelity. The same number goes down to %34,5 for all men and also %30,9 of them indicated that they blame themselves as the root cause of infertelity. When the sexual activities and the quality of life in infertile women and men are take in the consideration, it can be seen that 82.7% of infertile women and 49.1% of infertile men are suffering from sexual activity dysfunctions. Sexual activities of the women having infertility problem are less than the men suffering for the same problem. The difference between the ratings (p <0.05) of sexual activities of infertile women and men has been found statistically correlated, while the difference between ratings (p> 0.05) of quality of life in infertile women and men not. Quality of life rating in infertile women is lower than that of men. There is no statistically correlation between the quality of life ratings and sexual activities in infertile men, life quality decreases with the increasing sexual activity dysfunctions. Infertility is a major life crisis for most couples. It has been seen that it is a problem that affects couples sexual activities and quality of lives. Nurses are in the process of infertility, holistic approach to assess the status of the couples, the problem and identify the needs of couples in increasing sexual function and quality of life should be a professional role. Both in terms of quality of life in the sexual activity dysfunction and infertility, as well as the optimal management of patients requires further research. Key words: infertility, sexual activity dysfunction, quality of life