Well-being of Women Experiencing Primary and Secondary Infertility: an Application of the Biopsychosocial Model

Title of Document: SELF-COMPASSION, HOPE, AND WELL-BEING OF WOMEN EXPERIENCING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFERTILITY: AN APPLICATION OF THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL Trisha Raque-Bogdan, Master of Arts, 2010 Directed By: Mary Ann Hoffman, Ph.D. Professor Department of Counseling and Personnel Services Infertility is a medical issue faced by 1 in 10 couples in the United States, and holds the potential to have especially profound psychological effects on women. The current study examined the well-being of 119 women experiencing primary infertility and 53 women experiencing secondary infertility. Utilizing the biopsychosocial model, this study explored the biological variable of infertility type (i.e., primary or secondary); the psychological variables of self-compassion, hope, subjective well-being, and fertilityrelated stress; and the social variable of online support group use. Data were collected using an online survey and correlations and regression analyses were run to assess for relationships between the variables of interest and for moderation and mediation. No significant differences were found in the reported levels of subjective well-being or fertility-related stress in the two groups of women. Yet the type of infertility moderated the relationship between hope and fertility-related stress and for women with primary infertility, self-compassion mediated the relationship between hope and positive affect and negative affect. Additionally, both hope and self-compassion predicted significant variance in all dependent variables beyond that predicted by demographic and biological variables for both groups of women. These findings suggest the importance of considering positive psychological variables when working with women experiencing infertility. SELF-COMPASSION, HOPE, AND WELL-BEING OF WOMEN EXPERIENCING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFERTILITY: AN APPLICATION OF THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL