SCALES OF INFERTILITY: A REVIEW ON RECENT AND PAST LITERATURE

Abstract

Indians have always valued fertility as prosperity. There is a growing epidemic of Infertility in India. The WHO reported the prevalence of primary infertility in India to be 3.9% to 16.8 %. The causal reasons for this epidemic point to various aspects. Couples who undergo treatment face many mental challenges in dealing with helplessness.  The psychological impacts of infertility can include anxiety, sadness, and feelings of inadequacy. These psychological effects can worsen the distress further by external factors such as age, lifestyle, family dynamics, and other psychosocial factors. Stress-induced infertility is a major contributor to helplessness among couples. Methods to assess stress and other important psycho-social factors are the need of the hour for early detection. There is a need for the development and standardization of psychological assessment tools for childlessness in the Indian context to deal with the current situation. This review is done to bring out available infertility scales, identify the gaps and limitations, examine the other factors that can be included in the infertility scales, compare the different dimensions measured in these scales, and to find which of these scales is more reliable.