A study of sociocultural factors on depression in Chinese infertile women from Hunan Province

Abstract

Objective: To explore the sociocultural factors influencing depression in Chinese infertile women in Hunan Province.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 211 Chinese infertile women completed demographic details, a disease-related information questionnaire, a self-rating depression scale (SDS) and a social support rating scale (SSRS).

Results: One hundred and seven (50.71%) of the participants were classified as depressed according to the self-rating depression scale. The average SDS index score was 50.06 ± 10.59. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation and a multivariable regression analysis, the results showed family type, feelings of discrimination, social support, feelings of shame and reproductive pressures were influential factors in depression among Chinese infertile women.

Conclusion: Sociocultural factors influence depression levels in Chinese female infertile patients. The unique aspects of Chinese culture may have a negative mental impact on the patients, and cultural factors should be taken into consideration in the development of coping strategies for Chinese infertile women.

Keywords:

• China
• Chinese women
• depression
• infertility
• sociocultural factors

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the expert panel for their generous input: Shi Wu Wen, Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Clinical Epidemiology Program, Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine; Honghong Wang Ph.D., Nursing School of Central South Universty; Yinglan Li, Ph.D., Xiangya Hospital Central South University; Yu Luo, Dean of Nursing department, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital. We also would like to thank the following for their help during the data collections and analysis: Shujuan Zhu, M.D., RN, Nan Qin, M.D., Li Cheng, M.D., the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University; Siqi Zhang, M.S., School of Public Health, Peking University.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Current knowledge on this subject

• A variety of factors (such as age, family economic status, education level, family relationship, reproductive pressure, social support, and self-esteem) may affect the psychological state of infertile women.

• In China, research on this subject is still focused on the effect of single factors; no comprehensive study has been performed.

• The effect of traditional Chinese fertility conception the depression of Chinese infertile women was discussed.

What this study adds

• In view of the traditional Chinese cultural background, we introduced novel factors such as family type, fertility importance, feeling of discrimination, and feeling of shame into this study for a comprehensive exploration of the sociocultural influencing factors on depression of Chinese infertile women.

• In methodology, we were the first to use a semantic difference scale to quantify the reproductive pressure, feeling of discrimination, and feeling of shame of infertile women, which is innovative.

• Under the influence of traditional Chinese fertility concept, Chinese infertile women are affected by a special set of sociocultural factors. This study was tailored to fit the sociocultural influencing factors on Chinese infertile women producing unique results rich in Chinese characteristics. Family type as a sociocultural factor influencing the depression of Chinese infertile women was found.

Additional information

Funding

This study is financially supported by (1) China Hunan Provincial Science & Technology Department, the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation [10JJ3074]. (2) Shaoxing University Project [2012LG1018].