Iranian and English women's use of religion and spirituality as resources for coping with infertility

Abstract

The study reported in this paper explores how infertile women cope with infertility using their religious and spiritual beliefs. In total, 30 infertile women affiliated to different denominations of Christianity and Islam were interviewed in the UK and Iranian fertility clinics using grounded theory. The categories which emerged included governing ones’ ‘Self’ through gaining control of emotions, adopting religious coping strategies, and handling the burden of infertility peacefully, which all related to the core category of ‘relying on a higher being’. We argue that infertile women employ a variety of religious and spiritual coping strategies which are associated with adaptive health outcomes. Further scientific inquiry is required to investigate how religion and spirituality promote adaptation to infertility.

Keywords::

• Infertility
• religion
• spirituality
• coping
• feminist grounded theory

Acknowledgement

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 10th Royan International Twin Congress in 23rd–25th September, 2009, Royan Institute, Tehran, Iran. Research Support from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and also Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran is gratefully acknowledged. We express our truthful gratitude to the School of Health and Social Care, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK for their continuous support in this research endeavour. The authors’ special thanks and sincere gratitude go to all infertile women who cordially shared their invaluable experiences with us in their stressful circumstances.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.