Design and Standardization of Infertile Women Self-care Tools

Infertility is considered as a disease of the reproductive system meaning by the failure to reach a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. This study aimed to design and standardize a self-care tool in infertile women.

For the purpose of the study, we performed a cross-sectional pilot study on 233 infertile women referred to Najmieh Infertility Treatment Center in Kerman city in 2020 whose selection were randomly. Considering the available theoretical foundations and theories as well as available questionnaires associated with the self-care, a self-administered questionnaire with 42 items was constructed. In the following, the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were assessed using the face validity, content validity, structural validity as well as internal consistency. After determining the face validity and content validity quantitatively and qualitatively, the number of items was reduced to 36 items. Pearson correlation coefficient between selfcare factors had a significant correlation at the level of 0.01, which indicates the convergent validity of this tool.

As a result of explanatory factor analysis, a questionnaire with 28 questions remained, representing 5 factors which altogether accounted for 60.17% of the total variance of the test. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.764 confirmed the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Pearson correlation coefficients between self-care factors had a significant correlation at the level of 0.01, which indicates the convergent validity of this tool.

This study showed that the questionnaire entitled with “Self-care questionnaire for women with infertility” consisted of 28 items has good reliability and validity. Furthermore, this questionnaire is useful for assessing the self-care abilities of women with infertility and therefore, it can be used by health care providers working in the healthcare field.