Abstract

• The objective of this study was to develop a scale to measure stress in infertile couples and to test its reliability and validity. Prior to item generation, a basic decision was made to conceptualize stress in infertile couples as including two dimensions and four subdimensions. The dimensions were, intrapersonal stress including cognitive and affective stress, and interpersonal stress including marital and social stress. Initially 95 items were generated from the interview data of 31 primary or secondary infertile women and from a literature review. These items were analyzed through the Index of Content Validity(CVI) and 69 items were selected which met 70% or more of the CVI. This preliminary Infertility Stress Scale were analyzed for reliability and construct validity. Item analysis and factor analysis were applied for construct validity. Forty items were selected through item analysis. This procedure was based on the inter-item correlation matrix, a corrected average inter-item correlation coefficient (.30~.70), a corrected item to total correlation coefficient(.03 or more) and information about the alpha estimate if this item was dropped from the scale. The result of the initial factor analysis including varimax rotation produced eight factors. Five items deleted because of factor complexity (indiscriminate facter loadings). The secondary factor analysis including varimax rotation produced seven factors that coincided with the conceptual framework posed for the scale developed. The seven factors were labeled as 'meaning of children', 'worthiness', 'tenacious thinking', 'marital satisfaction', 'sexual satisfaction', 'familial adjustment' and 'social adjustment'. The alpha coefficient relating to internal consistency was .93 for reliability. The results of this study suggest that the measurement derived from the Infertility Stress Scale is useful in assessing the stress of infertile couples.

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