Relation of Self Esteem and Depression to Quality of Life among Women Undergoing Fertility Treatment

The present study attempts to find out the relation of self esteem and depression to various domains of quality of life of women undergoing fertility treatment. Further, it also attempts to determine the influence of self esteem and depression of the domains of quality of life. Expost facto research design was adopted. 104 women undergoing fertility treatment were taken from two private hospitals in Chennai. Prior consent to participate and briefing was given to all participants. Rosenberg Self esteem scale (1965) Beck's Depression Inventory II (1966) and WHO Quality of Life (Orley, et al., 1996) were used. Statistical analysis of the data indicated that self esteem was positively related and depression was negatively related to all the domains of QOL. 72% of psychological domain of quality of life was explained by self esteem and 60% was explained by depression. The finding of the study has implications not only for women undergoing treatment but to other stakeholders such as doctors, clinical and health psychologist.