Rendimiento de recuperación de proteína cruda

To identify the relevant empirical psychological

variables facing people involved in infertility treatment, a Factor Analysis was performed using the previously described

conceptually derived variables. This questionnaire was

designed for the purposes of this research endeavor by the author/researcher.

Initially all the items from the questionnaire were simultaneously factor analyzed. One large factor emerged, which emphasized primarily negative and sad feelings and issues associated with infertility. This led to the interpretation of one large Depression factor. The fact that when all of the items on the questionnaire were factor analyzed together, only one factor evolved is noteworthy. Identifying only one factor from any factor analysis is very unusual and has significant meaning for the experience of infertility. The fact that there was one global factor derived which was overwhelmingly depressing is a strong indication of the overall experience of infertility. This finding was supported by all of the other data gathered during this research endeavor. Because the identification of one large general factor tends to mask other important thoughts, feelings and issues, I decided to conduct

independent factor analyses using all of the items within

each of the previously described conceptually derived categories. In this way, I hoped to more comprehensively identify and describe the most important issues and concerns facing those people involved in infertility treatment.

This approach proved to be extremely useful. A total of twelve factors emerged using eigen values of greater than 1 as well as scree tests described by Cattell (1966). The following headings represent the original psychological categories designed for this research. Within each paragraph the results of the research will be described.

Stress

Within the Stress category, one factor emerged which included five of the original six items, all with factor loadings of greater than .40. Inspection of the pattern of significant loadings (above .40) such as "Being around people who talk about their children "Holidays ..." and "Being involved in medical evaluation and treatment ...", all were reported as extremely stressful. Thus a Stress factor was named, which accounted for 48.6% of the common factor variance.

Emotional Reactions

Within the category entitled "Emotional Reactions", two factors emerged, labelled Depression, Factor II, and Anger, Factor III. Depression was comprised of fifteen items such as "At times I find myself crying for no apparent reason", "I have an intensely negative reaction to pregnant women"

and "I am depressed much of the time because of our

infertility.” Because of its high depression content, this factor was termed Depression and accounted for 32.4% of the common factor variance. The third factor was entitled Anger and included six items such as "I am angry at my spouse for burdening me with infertility” and ”1 feel my life is ruined because of our infertility." Seven and a half percent of the common factor variance was accounted for by this variable.

Psychological Considerations

From the category called Psychological Considerations, four factors (IV, V, VI and VII) were identified. Negative Psychological Effect, Factor IV, accounted for 18.2% of the common factor variance. It was comprised of 8 ideas and included items such as "I feel ugly" and "I view myself more negatively” and "I can't control my emotions". Shame,

Factor V, accounted for 10.0% of the common factor variance. It was comprised of five items such as, "It's embarrassing to discuss our infertility" and "Initially we were very secretive". No Control, Factor VI, accounted for 9.0% of the common variance and consisted of three items, such as "I prefer to let our physician make all the decisions" and "I don't feel I can refuse a test or procedure recommended by our physician". The last factor, Control, Factor VII, accounted for 8% of the common factor variance. It was comprised of four items, including such examples as "I feel capable and qualified to be actively involved in my medical

decision-making" and "We do not hesitate to question our physician when we do not understand what is to be done or why."

Social Issues

From the Social Issues category emerged two factors, Physician, VIII, and Negative Social View, IX. The

Physician factor included such items as "Our physician's optimism keeps us motivated to return to treatment each month" and "Physicians are sensitive to the psychological needs of their patients." This factor accounted for 17.2% of the common factor variance and was comprised of 7 items. Negative Social view, Factor IX, accounted for 11.7% of the common factor variance. High loadings were obtained from items such as "Infertility has negatively affected my relationships with friends" and "I believe people are basically insensitive to the issue of infertility." Six items comprised this factor.

Current Feelings

From the Current Feelings category, the last three factors were identified, Hope, Isolation and Acceptance. Factor X was titled Hope and included six items such as "I realize there are still a number of viable options to pursue" and "I don't think it's a question of 'if' so much as 'when' we will have children." The Hope factor accounted for 14.2% of the common factor variance. Isolation, Factor XI, was comprised of six items such as "I will always feel different from the fertile world" and "I will always view

myself as an infertile person." It accounted for 13.1% of the variance. Acceptance, Factor XII, included six items and accounted for 10.0% of the common factor variance. High loadings were obtained from items such as "I can once again get excited about what the future may hold for us" and "I feel good about the decisions we have made about building a family."

Measures

In order to insure internal consistency among items of each factor alpha coefficients were performed. These

measures verify that items within a scale are in fact measuring the same single construct. Results of this

analysis may be found on Table 15. Of additional importance is the determination of what amount of variance each factor accounts for within the more global scales from which they were originally derived. Only factors with eigen values greater than 1 were considered relevant. Results of this analysis are provided in Table 15.

Table 15

Internal Consistency of Measures

Factor Alpha coefficient Eigen value

I . Stress II. Anger III. Depression

IV. Neg psych effect V. Shame

V I . No control