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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on June 24, 2005
Human Reproduction 2005 20(10):2858-2865; doi:10.1093/humrep/dei127
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Infertility

A new quality-of-life measure for men experiencing involuntary childlessness

S. Schanz1,6, I.T. Baeckert-Sifeddine5, C. Braeunlich1, S.E. Collins2, A. Batra2, S. Gebert3, M. Hautzinger4 and G. Fierlbeck1

1 Departments of Dermatology, 2 Psychiatry and Psychotherapy,3 Gynaecology, Eberhard-Karls-University, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany, 4 Department of Clinical and Physiological Psychology, Eberhard-Karls-University, D-72072 Tübingen, Germany, and 5 Fertility Center Aalen D-73430 Aalen, Germany

6 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stefan.schanz{at}med.uni-tuebingen.de

BACKGROUND: Infertility may considerably reduce quality-of-life. Many of the existing generic quality-of-life measures, which often focus on physical impairments, do not represent the specific complaints of infertile patients. In this article, we report on the development and validation of the TLMK (Tübinger Lebensqualitätsfragebogen für Männer mit Kinderwunsch), an instrument for measuring quality-of-life in male patients with involuntary childlessness. METHODS: The first version of the questionnaire, which consisted of 91 items, was administered to 275 men who attended andrology and gynaecology clinics for fertility evaluations. After the questionnaires were scored, item analysis and reduction, principal component analysis and internal consistency analyses were conducted. RESULTS: The final version of the TLMK consists of 35 items in four scales and provides an internally consistent quality-of-life profile for men experiencing involuntary childlessness. Convergent and discriminant validity was supported through the correlation of the TLMK scales with established questionnaires on life satisfaction (FLZ) and partnership (PFB). CONCLUSION: The TLMK provides information about the quality-of-life in men experiencing involuntary childlessness and was found to be easy to administer and acceptable to patients. It may be used to assess patients’ baseline and ongoing quality-of-life during fertility treatment and as an outcome variable in the evaluation of integrated psychological counselling.

Key words: male infertility/quality-of-life/questionnaire development


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S. Dyer, C. Lombard, and Z. Van der Spuy
Psychological distress among men suffering from couple infertility in South Africa: a quantitative assessment
Hum. Reprod., November 1, 2009; 24(11): 2821 - 2826.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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