The Relationship of Self-Care Knowledge Towards COVID-19 Crisis with Anxiety and Quality of Life in Infertile Women

Introduction: Self-care is any activity that establishes and maintains one’s own health and prevents and deals with illnesses. According to the evidence, epidemiological crises affect individuals' mental health. Also, dealing with infertility can lead to mental health issues. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of self-care knowledge towards the COVID-19 crisis with anxiety and quality of life in infertile women. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey via the social media platform WhatsApp based on convenience sampling of infertile women was conducted from April to December 2019 during the COVID- 19 pandemic in Infertility centers of Shiraz, a metropolis in the South of Iran. Data was collected by demographic and infertility-related questionnaire, self-structured questionnaire of self-care knowledge towards the COVID-19 crisis, Spielberger state anxiety and Fertility Quality of Life questionnaire using Porsline software on a self-report basis. Inclusion criteria were infertile women active in the virtual network. SPSS software IBM company version 20 was used for data analysis. Results and Discussion: Most of the participants (62.2%) had average self-care knowledge about Covid-19. There was an inverse, and significant relationship between self-care knowledge of COVID-19 and anxiety of infertile women, i. e., the lower level of self-care knowledge of infertile women towards Covid-19 crisis was associated with a higher level of anxiety (p < 0.05). No significant relationship was found between the level of self-care knowledge of COVID-19 and infertile women’s quality of life (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Increasing self-care knowledge of COVID-19 among infertile women could affect their mental health. Education and increasing self-care knowledge during pandemics are recommended to manage the anxiety of infertile women and, as a consequence, promote fertility.