Women receiving infertility treatment the relationship between perceived social support and stress and coping with stress

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between perceived social support and stress and coping with stress in women receiving infertility treatment, and is of cross-sectional design. The research population consists of women who applied to the IVF Unit of Fırat University Hospital in Elazig between February 1 and June 1, 2022 and continued their treatment in this center. The research sample consisted of 384 infertile women whose universe was determined by the unknown sample calculation formula. The research data were collected by the researcher using the "Data Collection Form for Women", "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support", "Scale of Perceived Stress" and "Styles of Coping with Stress". The data were evaluated using the SPSS 22 package program. Frequency, percentage values, mean, standard deviation were used for descriptive statistics. Data were analyzed using the Independent sample t-test for comparisons between two groups and the one-way ANOVA test to compare the means of more than two homogeneous groups. Scheffe post hoc test was used to find out from which group the significance of the variables with a significant difference between the means according to the results of the ANOVA test originated. Significance level was taken as p<0.05. It was determined that as the perceived stress of women receiving infertility treatment increased, their perceived total social support, family, friend and special person support decreased. It was determined that as the perception of insufficient self-efficacy of women who received infertility treatment increased, their perceived total social support, family and friend support decreased. It was determined that as the participants' perceptions of stress/discomfort increased, their perceived total social support, family, friend and special person support decreased. It was determined that as the participants used optimistic coping style, their perceived total social support and special human support increased. It was determined that as the participants used their self-confident approach and helpless coping styles, their perceived total social support, family, friend and special person support increased. It was determined that as the participants used the submissive approach coping style, their perceived family support decreased. It was determined that as the participants used the social support approach and coping style, their perceived total social support, family, friend and special person support increased. It was determined that as the participants used the optimistic coping style, their perceived total stress and stress/discomfort perceptions decreased. It was determined that as the participants used the self-confident approach and seeking social support, their perceived total stress, perception of insufficient self-efficacy, and perception of stress/discomfort decreased. It was determined that as the participants used the helpless approach and coping style, their perceived total stress, inadequate self-efficacy perceptions and stress/discomfort perceptions also increased. It is important to provide evidence-based midwifery care to couples in the diagnosis and treatment process of infertility. Counseling should be given to women receiving infertility treatment, and issues that will increase women's coping strategies with stress should be included in the counseling program.