Quality of life and related constructs in a group of infertile Hungarian women: a validation study of the FertiQoL

Abstract

Quality-of-life measurement is a basic prerequisite for psychologically sensitive fertility care and the FertiQoL is a psychometrically sound outcome measure in this field. The aim of the present research was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Hungarian Core FertiQoL. Two independent samples of infertile women were merged (n = 320). While the model fit of the four-factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis was under the level of acceptability (χ²(246) = 626.36, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.070 [CI₉₀ = 0.063–0.076], CFI = 0.878, SRMR = 0.071), the four-factor Exploratory Structural Equation Model showed much improved model fit (χ²(186) = 395.63, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.059 [CI₉₀ = 0.051–0.067], CFI = 0.933, SRMR = 0.035). Good internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alphas 0.77–0.92) and construct reliability (0.75-0.95) were found for both factor structures. Depression correlated negatively with fertility-specific quality of life. Almost a quarter of the sample suffered from moderate-to-severe depression. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that Beck Depression Inventory categories (mild, moderate etc.) co-occurred with significantly distinct FertiQoL score ranges, leading to a possible, clinically meaningful threshold on the Core FertiQoL. Pearson coefficients showed secondary infertility, rural residency and pre-treatment status to be associated with better fertility quality of life.

Keywords:

• Female infertility
• quality of life
• depression
• FertiQoL
• reliability and validity
• Hungary

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all the women agreeing to participate in this study. The authors thank the staff of the participating fertility clinics for their help in data collection.

Author contributions

JSF, TW, EL, PB, RS were involved in the study design; RS, EL, PB in data management; JSF, DG, TW, RS in data analysis; JSF, DG, RS in writing the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript and approved the final version.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Please contact the corresponding author with data requests.