Prevalence and psychosocial consequences of infertility among rural residents of Vijayapur area of Karnataka

Background: infertility is a public health problem affecting around 8-10% of the couple worldwide. it has an impact on their physical,mental and social well-being. aim and objectives: to determine the prevalence and to assess the psychosocial consequences of infertility among rural residents of vijayapur area of karnataka. material and methods: a cross sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area between march 2015 - february 2016. complete enumeration of all the houses was done to list all eligible couples and those who were exposed to risk of pregnancy and had infertility were identified. a validated “fertility problem inventory scale” was used to assess the psychosocial consequences of infertility and impact was seen at four levels i.e.,personal,sexual,social,marital. results: a total of 106 participants were included. the prevalence of infertility was 7.6%. conflict within the marriage was highest (mean scores 60.3),followed by decline in sexual relationship (mean scores 55.9),personal impact (mean scores 44.3) and social impact (mean scores 38.8).conclusion: the results revealed that the couples have poor well-being on all the dimensions. there is need of awareness generation and counselling. © journal of krishna institute of medical sciences university.