Dr Salman Zarei, Mrs Niaz Yousefi,
Volume 19, Issue 75 (12-2020)
Abstract
Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the coping strategies and levels of psychological adjustment in depressed and non-depressed women experiencing intrauterine fetal death (IUFD). Methods: This was a causal-comparative study. The research population includes all the depressed and non-depressed women experiencing intra-uterine fetal death who had active case file in specialized infertility clinics of district 5 of Tehran in 2017. Thirty depressed women experiencing intra-uterine fetal death and 30 non-depressed women experiencing intra-uterine fetal death (total 60 subjects) were selected through available sampling. For gathering the data, coping inventory for stressful situations (CISS), Veit and Ware’s mental health inventory, and Beck’s depression inventory were used. The data were analysed by statistical methods of multivariate analysis of variance. Findings: Results suggested that there is a significant difference in problem-focused coping strategies and emotionally-focused coping strategies in depressed and non-depressed women (P<0.01), but no significant difference was observed in avoidance coping strategies among depressed and non-depressed women (P=0.79). Also, results indicated that psychological helplessness is significantly lower in non-depressed women compared to depressed women and non-depressed women enjoy higher psychological well-being (P<0.001). Conclusion: The present study showed that coping strategies and psychological adjustment are variables that can affect the depression of women experiencing intrauterine fetal death. Therefore, these variables should be considered in order to treat the depression of these individuals.