Introduction: Infertility is considered one of the main genetic problems, and defined as impotence in pregnancy after one year of intercourse, without using any contraceptive method.According to past studies, about 50 to 80 million suffer this condition, while throughout the world one couple in six couples is afflicted with this condition.Impotency as a crisis is a source of social anxiety which overshadows all aspects of individual’s life together with its physical, psychological and economic issues.Moreover, the couple’s life expectations are challenged by being diagnosed with this condition, for infertility is an unplanned and unwanted anxiety factor, while many couples are not equipped with adequate knowledge and skill to cope with this issue.In a study titled “comparison of stress, depression and satisfaction Faal-Kalkhoran indicates that stress and depression exists in infertile couples and the main cause behind this is the people’s attitude towards life management and social acceptance.This study sets out to investigate marital burnout and relationship beliefs among infertile and fertile couples in ardabil, Iran
Methods: The population of this descriptive-correlational study comprises of fertile and infertile couples seeking treatment from ardabil Infertility Treatment Clinic (2017). Via convenience sampling, 140 fertile and 140 infertile couples were selected according to medical criteria. The participants filled out the demographic data, Pine's Burnout Measure, and Epstein and Eidelson's Relationship Belief Inventory questionnaires. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistical methods, step by stem regression, one way variance analysis, Scheffe's tests, multi variable variance analysis, and independent T-test by SPSS version 18
Results: All the scores concerning relationship beliefs were higher in the fertile group in comparison to the scores within the infertile group, except for the destructiveness belief and inflexibility of the spouse (respectively P=0.27, P=0.24) other factors in the fertile and infertile groups were significantly different. Regarding the marital burnout factor, the scores pertaining to psychological burnout were significantly higher in the infertile group (P=0.0015). Although the scores pertaining to physical burnout were higher in the infertile group, and emotional burnout was higher in the fertile group, these differences were not significant.
Conclusion: Compared to the fertile group, the infertile couples are characterized by stronger relationship beliefs, but they experience higher marital burnout in physical and psychological dimensions