Trial development of the Cognitive Appraisal Scale for Infertility (CASI) (version 1).
OBJECTIVE
To develop the Cognitive Appraisal Scale for Infertility (CASI) and assess it for reliability and validity.


METHODS
Cross-sectional and longitudinal study.


METHODS
A private fertility institute in Japan.


METHODS
223 infertile women being treated at the institute.


METHODS
Administration of questionnaire at initial consultation and 6 months later.


METHODS
A self-rating questionnaire of perceptions and feelings about infertility on a four-point Likert scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), test-retest reliability coefficients, and concurrent validity correlations.


RESULTS
Factor analysis identified eight factors with 35 items: difficulty accepting infertility, decrease in self-esteem, acceptance/coming to terms with new self-identity, despair, loss of libido and erosion of marital relationship, guilt, denial, and self-imposed isolation. Internal consistency for factors 1 and 2 was 0.88 and 0.82, for factors 3 to 8 was from 0.68 to 0.58. Test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.90 to 0.72. Concurrent validity correlations between CASI and STAI, and SDS ranged from 0.54 to 0.29.


CONCLUSIONS
The CASI, a new and potentially useful scale to assess emotional responses to infertility, is still in development. Further refined CASI and standardized scores of each subscale could be efficient for clinical practice.
Saito
Yoshiko
Y
Faculty of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan; Nara Medical University, Nara, Japan. yoshiko-vivace@par.odn.ne.jp
Matsuo
Hiroya
H
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D004644:Emotions; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D007317:Insemination, Artificial, Homologous / Q000523:psychology; D007989:Libido; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000523:psychology; D010465:Perception; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012934:Social Isolation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult