Is Spirituality a Source of Support or Conflict for Infertility? A Qualitative Study

Sevda Karakaş 1 * , Rukiye Höbek Akarsu 2, Özden Tandoğan 3, Özlem Şahan 4
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1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Gümüşhane University, Gümüşhane, Turkey
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing, Faculty of Health Science, Yozgat Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing, Faculty of Health Scinces, Istanbul Arel University, Istanbul, Turkey
4 Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Scineces, Antalya Bilim University, Antalya, Turkey
* Corresponding Author
J CLIN MED KAZ, In press. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/16267
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Author Contributions: Conceptualization, R. H. A.; methodology – not applicable; validation, S. K., R. H. A.; formal analysis, S. K., Ö. T.; investigation, S. K., R. H. A.; software, S. K.; resources, S. K.; data curation, S. K., R. H. A., Ö. T., Ö. Ş.; writing – original draft preparation, S. K., R. H. A., Ö. T., Ö. Ş.; writing – review and editing, S. K., R. H. A., Ö. T.; visualization, S. K., R. H. A.; supervision, R. H. A., Ö. T., Ö. Ş.; project administration – not applicable; funding acquisition – not applicable. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement: The corresponding author can provide the data supporting the study's conclusions upon request. Due to ethical and privacy constraints, the data are not publicly accessible.

Ethics statement: The principles of the Declaration of Helsinki were adhered to throughout the study. For research Ethics committee decision was obtained from the Yozgat Bozok University Ethics Committee (Decision number: 22/01; Decision Date: 02.01.2022).

ABSTRACT

Background: Infertility has become an important public health problem in developing countries due to its high prevalence. Infertility is a difficult crisis situation with psychological and spiritual dimensions.
Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the psychological burden of infertility treatment process in women.
Methods: This research was designed as a descriptive qualitative study. This study was conducted in a governmental hospital's infertility outpatient clinic in Istanbul, Turkey. Twenty participants participated in the face-to-face, in-depth interview technique used to gather the research data. A semi-structured interview and a comprehensive information form were used to gather data.
Results: In line with the interviews with the participants, 2 main themes, 9 sub-themes and 12 codes for the sub-themes were determined as the findings obtained based on the content analysis in the study, positive religious behaviors and negative religious behaviors.
Conclusions: In our study, it was found that women felt unhappy, hopeless and helpless and could not accept not being able to have children.
Keywords: Infertility treatment, psychology, support, women.

CITATION

Karakaş S, Höbek Akarsu R, Tandoğan Ö, Şahan Ö. Is Spirituality a Source of Support or Conflict for Infertility? A Qualitative Study. J Clin Med Kaz. 2025. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/16267

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