Aspectos psicológicos na infertilidade masculina e sua relação com os parâmetros seminais

Abstract

Conjugal infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that occurs in couples trying to conceive for at least twelve months without any contraception and without success. Male infertility may be related to the reduction of seminal quality and was related to numerous factors, whether physiological or even psychological. This research sought the relationship between seminal quality parameters and psychological aspects such as fertility adjustment, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem and the dimensions of self-perception of mate value in men seeking treatment for infertility at the Assisted Reproduction Center of the MaternitySchoolJanuário Cicco in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. A total of 135 men filled up the research questionnaires and collected semen samples in the institution. The correlation between the spermogram values and the psychometric scales was performed to test three hypotheses: if there’s a relation between seminal quality and psychological aspects; if there are differences between men who already have children and men who do not; and if there are differences between men who know to have a male factor as the cause of infertility and men who do not know? A correlation was found between seminal volume and the sociability’s dimension, and also between progressive sperm motility and appearance’s dimension. Men who have children scored more in the relationship’s dimension. Men who did not have a diagnosis of male factor of infertility presented a higher score in two dimensions, view of the opposite sex and relationship. We conclude that there is a relation between the results obtained in the seminal analyzes and the psychological reality experienced by infertile men, more evident for the man who has a diagnosis of a male factor. We understand that neither the cause of infertility or the fact that the man has already had children has shown to be relevant to his fertility adjustment, his self-esteem and his satisfaction in the relationship. The greater impact of coping with the disease is the self-perception of mate value’s dimensions, of how the man sees and feels in relation to the opposite sex.