Aim To dentify the predictors of the quality of life (QOL) of infertile men who are undergoing infertility treatments in Japan and to create a QOL prediction model, with the main variables aimed at providing more adequate support to male patients. Methods This cross‐sectional study used the quantitative data that were collected from 321 returned self‐report questionnaires that had been distributed to the men of 411 couples who were undergoing fertility treatment. The following four scales were used to measure the main outcomes: FertiQoL, psychological distress, spousal support, and workplace support. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, multiple regression analyses, and structural equation modeling. Results The number of returned questionnaires was 321 (78.1%). The QOL that was measured by FertiQoL was significantly lower in those men who were diagnosed with male factor infertility than in the other male patients. The two significant predictors of QOL were: spousal support and the infertility period. The structural equation modeling revealed that the same factors were related to QOL. Conclusions Male factor infertility, less spousal support, and a longer period of infertility were associated with a poorer QOL of those men who were undergoing infertility treatment. These results suggest that focusing on infertility causes, the length of the infertility period, and the couples’ partnership during treatment is needed to provide full support to men who have been diagnosed with infertility.

Background: FertiQoL, which measures the Quality of Life (QOL) of reproductive partners, has been translated and used in 45 languages in the world. The reliability and validity of the original English version of FertiQoL have been confirmed. However, there is still no report on the reliability and validity of the Japanese version by a large-scale survey. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the FertiQoL scale for measuring the QOL of patients with reproductive problems. Methods: An unsigned self-filled questionnaire survey was conducted in patients undergoing infertility treatment at seven facilities in the Kanto area in Japan using the 34 items of the Japanese version of the FertiQoL scale. The study design was quantitative cross-sectional descriptive research. The investigation period was from April 2013 to April 2018. The contents of the investigation were attributes, FertiQoL scale, and distress scale. To determine the construct validity, principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlation analysis for each subscale were performed using SPSS Statistics Ver. 23.0 and AMOS Ver. 23.0. The study was performed after obtaining approval from the Research Ethics Review Committee of the responsible institutions to which the researchers belong as an ethical consideration. Results: The participants included 1201 patients undergoing infertility treatment and who provided valid responses. The Cronbach's α was 0.92, and confirmatory factor analysis identified six domains with 34 items that showed the following values: goodness of fit index = 0.877, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.

Background: This study aimed to clarify the supportive care needs and medical care requests of male patients during their infertility treatment to be able to provide them with optimal nursing care. Methods: A self-filled questionnaire survey was conducted in 411 male patients who were undergoing infertility treatment at 4 human reproductive clinics. The investigation period was from April to August 2016. This research used across-sectional study design. The submission of the filled questionnaire was taken as an indication of agreement and consent to the research. The main contents of the questionnaire were attributions, care needs, and medical care requests of male patients. The care needs were evaluated by descriptive statistics, and the free descriptions of the medical care requests were analyzed for their contents qualitatively and recursively. The study was performed after the approval of the Research Ethics Review Committee. Results: The number of valid responses was 331 (80.5%). The care needs of the male patients were warm care for their wives, provision of information on their treatment, daily life information for conceiving, and evaluation data. The 6 categories of the open-ended responses were as follows: warm support, improvement of examination environment, adjustment of medical examination schedule, information provision, support from wife, and subsidy for treatment costs. These were extracted from the medical care requests by qualitative inductive analysis. Conclusions: The care needs and medical care requests of male patients undergoing infertility treatment were mainly on being provided information and supporting their wives. As supporting nursing care for these male patients, provision of sufficient in

Aim During infertility treatment, distress increases and the quality of life declines in both men and women over time. Thus, both men and women need equal support and care. In this study, we aimed to explore the effectiveness of a web‐based partnership support program in preventing quality of life deterioration and reducing emotional distress in men undergoing infertility treatment. Methods We conducted a non‐randomized controlled trial involving 151 infertile couples in Japan from January to April of 2022. The program consisted of couple discussion, information provision for couple cooperation, and communication techniques. We used a quasi‐experimental design (non‐equivalence two groups pre‐test and post‐test with comparison) involving purposive sampling. Data were collected using the FertiQoL tool and Distress scales. Analyses were conducted by a two‐way factorial analysis of variance using SPSS software. Results Data for the analysis were included for the intervention group (n = 58) and the control group (n = 62) (valid response rate 79.5%). There were no significant interaction effects between program and time in the FertiQoL and Distress scales. However, there were significant interaction effects between program and time in the Relational (p < .001) and Social (p = .044) subscales. Subgroup analysis showed that in the non‐assisted reproductive technologies group, deterioration in the quality of life was more effectively prevented in the intervention group than in the control group. Conclusions The web‐based partnership support program appeared to be effective in preventing the deterioration of the quality of life of only men undergoing non‐assisted reproductive technology treatment.

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