CLINICAL SCHOLARSHIP Psychosocial Health of Infertile Ghanaian Women and Their Infertility Beliefs Florence Naab, PhD, M’phil, RN 1 , Roger Brown, PhD 2 , & Susan Heidrich, PhD, RN 3 1 Tau Lambda at Large, Lecturer,Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana 2 Professor, Schools of Nursing, Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA 3 Beta Eta at Large, Helen Denne Schulte Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nurse Scientist, William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI, USA Key words Beliefs, infertility, psychosocial, women Correspondence Dr. Florence Naab, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Nursing, P.O. Box LG 43, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon Boundary, Accra, Ghana. E-mail: florencenaab@yahoo.com Accepted: November 3, 2012 doi: 10.1111/jnu.12013 Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe infertile women’s psy- chosocial health problems and their infertility-related beliefs and examine the relationships between their beliefs about infertility and psychosocial health problems. Design: The study was a descriptive correlational cross-sectional survey. Women (N = 203) who were receiving treatment for fertility problems in two public hospitals in Ghana were recruited. Methods: Participants completed a Fertility Belief Questionnaire; measures of infertility-related stress, anxiety, social isolation, perceived stigma, and depres- sive symptoms; and sociodemographic and infertility-related health questions. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, and hierarchical regression analy- ses were performed. Findings: The women reported high levels of infertility-related stress, low levels of anxiety, some social isolation, low levels of perceived stigma, and high levels of depressive symptoms. Beliefs that infertility has negative conse- quences and that one has a poor understanding of infertility were significantly related to infertility-related stress, social isolation, and depressive symptoms. Belief that infertility could be managed by personal control was significantly related to lower levels of anxiety and perceived stigma. Beliefs about conse- quences, illness coherence, and personal control explained significant propor- tions of the variances in anxiety, stress, social isolation, perceived stigma, and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Infertile women in Ghana have psychosocial health problems that are associated with their beliefs about infertility. Clinical Relevance: Findings have implications for nursing care of infertile women in Ghana. Seventy-two million women in the world are reported to be infertile, and most of them live in developing countries (Boivin, Bunting, Collins, & Nygren, 2007; World Health Organization [WHO], 2009). The prevalence of infertility is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from 20% to 46% in some parts of West Africa (Kwawukume & Emuveyan, 2005). It is estimated that 30% of sub- Saharan African couples are infertile, as compared with 28% in South-Central Asia and 24% in South-East Asia (WHO, 2009). There is also some evidence that infer- tility is associated with stress, stigma, anxiety, and de- pression among infertile women in Africa, where child bearing is highly valued (Barden-O’Fallon, 2005; de Kok, 2009; de Kok & Widdicombe, 2008; Donkor & Sandall, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2013; 45:2, 1–9. 1 C  2013 Sigma Theta Tau International