Self-Compassion and Women’s Coping with Infertility: A Review of Its Potential as a Health Promotion Tool

Description

Ankita Menon and R. Baskar (Department of Social Work, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

Infertility is a persistent global public-health challenge with considerable psychosocial repercussions for women, particularly in traditional and low-resource countries where childbearing is fundamental to social identity. Although reproductive health facilities increasingly identify psychosocial concerns, mental-health promotion remains marginal within conventional fertility care. This article synthesizes empirical evidence on self-compassion as a health-promotion strategy to mitigate infertility-related distress and enhance well-being among women experiencing infertility. A narrative synthesis of randomized and non-randomized trials, meta-analyses, clinical studies, qualitative studies and reviews was conducted to examine mechanisms, intervention formats, outcomes, and contextual moderators. Findings indicate that infertility is associated with elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms, reduced quality of life, and intensified stigma; psychosocial interventions are linked to improvements in psychological well-being, coping, and, in some studies, treatment adherence and pregnancy outcomes. Evidence specific to self-compassion interventions demonstrates consistent associations with decreased self-criticism, greater emotion regulation, and enhanced resilience, yet empirical work is limited by small, clinic-based samples, Western-centric studies, short follow-up periods, and sparse investigation of biological and behavioral mediators. By boosting internal resources and lowering stigma-driven barriers to treatment, self-compassion techniques provide workable, low-resource delivery choices that support preventative and promotional goals from a health-promotion perspective. The creation of culturally appropriate interventions, the incorporation of dyadic and community-level designs, rigorous randomized trials with extended follow-up, and policy integration paths to integrate psychosocial supports into reproductive health care are our top research and practice priorities. The research calls for redefining psychological techniques as fundamental components of reproductive health promotion to better address the diverse needs of women impacted by infertility.