The Resilience Scale in Portuguese Adults under Assisted Reproductive Techniques

Abstract

Assessing resilience response to an adverse event such as infertility requires measuring the same construct adequately and accurately by nurses. The objective of this study was to explore the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of the Resilience Scale for adults. A cross-sectional and methodological design was used, and factor analyses were performed. The sample comprised 140 adult Portuguese individuals under fertility treatment recruited from health-related websites. The findings yielded a bad fit of the hypothesized Resilience Scale structure with the observed data. Instead, a 21-item tool with a four-factor structure revealed high internal consistency (0.94). The tool correlated positively and significantly to the Portuguese version of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire and was negatively associated and lacked correlation with the Fertility Adjustment Scale. The 21-item Resilience Scale is a reliable tool suitable to measure resilience in Portuguese adults under assisted reproductive techniques. This tool offers the opportunity of early recognition by health professionals aiming to enhance patients’ coping skills effectively and promote positive psychological and mental health outcomes.

Portuguese Version of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire: Validation Study in People under Assisted Reproductive Techniques

“…Seeking instruments to measure spiritual well-being in different healthcare contexts is not new, but an approach to early-life events such as infertility is quite innovative (Caldeira et al 2019a;Romeiro et al 2017b;Romeiro and Caldeira 2018a).…”

“…Satisfactory results proposed a four-factor structure to be the best fit in several samples, although with some inconsistency in the elderly (Caldeira et al 2014;Neves et al 2017;Rodrigues 2013). In addition, calls to test its equivalent validity in distinct ages were released (Gomez and Fisher 2005b), along with growing interest in spiritual research in people with non-terminal illness (Romeiro et al 2018;Romeiro and Caldeira 2018a). In fact, a synthesis of Portuguese studies about people living with infertility highlighted the absence of evidence beyond the psychosocial aspects of having such a reproductive condition (Romeiro and Caldeira 2018a).…”

“Spiritual distress (00066)” in patients under fertility treatment: Clinical validation study

“…In fact, connectedness, transcendence, and meaning of life, the three main attributes of spirituality (Weathers et al., 2016), were previously identified in such patients highlighting the significant role spirituality plays in their lives (Romeiro, Caldeira, Brady, Timmins et al., 2017). Exploration of spiritual and religious behaviors by scholars has happened with emphasis on extreme life situations (Romeiro & Caldeira, 2018a, 2018b), although spiritual distress was one of the most frequent human responses, the most common foci, demonstrated by patients with infertility in an early qualitative review (Romeiro & Caldeira, 2018b).…”