HOPE AND HEALING: EXPLORING SPIRITUALITY, COPING STRATEGIES, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING IN WOMEN FACING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY INFERTILITY

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between spirituality, coping strategies and psychological well-being in primary and secondary infertile women. A sample of 120 infertile women (60 primary and 60 secondary) with the age range 18-45 years M (SD)=1.39 (0.49). The sample was taken from different hospitals and clinics of Lahore and Peshawar. Spirituality was measures by Spirituality Assessment Inventory (SAI) (Hall & Edward, 1996), coping in individuals was measured by Brief COPE (Akhter, 2005), and Psychological well-being was measured by Psychological well-being scale (Jabeen, 2012).Translation ad adaptation of Spirituality Assessment Inventory was done in the resent study and the translated version (Urdu) of other two questionnaire were used in the study. Psychometric properties of the measures were also determined like reliability analysis and the Cronbach’s Alpha of SAI is α = .87 and PWB is α = .60 and Brief COPE is α = .50 which is considered to be satisfactory reliable for the current study. The results of inter correlation matrix showed that spirituality has significant positive correlation with psychological well-being and psychological well-being also has positive relationship with coping strategies. t-test indicated significant mean differences in term of education and age of infertile women on their psychological well-being. Results of ANOVA indicated that socio economic status has significant impact on the level of psychological well-being of infertile women (p <.05). The results of regression analysis indicated that spirituality and socio economic status are significant predictor (**p<.001, *p <.05) of psychological well-being among primary and secondary infertile women. Coping strategies and its subscales explain non-significant moderating effect on spirituality and psychological well-being among infertile women. Results are discussed to explain the findings with reference to Pakistani culture and previous empirical evidence.