Psychometric properties of the FertiQoL questionnaire in Italian infertile women in different stages of treatment

Background: Reliable Fertility-specific QoL measures can be obtained through the FertiQoL, a questionnaire with six-subscales that consider different core aspects of the person's wellbeing and way of behaving during treatment. Objective: Examine the psychometric properties of all six-subscales of the Italian FertiQoL in a sample of infertile women and explore the effects of the ART treatment phases. Method: 323 women, in three different treatment stages (Diagnostic, Stimulation, Transfer), completed the FertiQoL. Raw data were subject to Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and a structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to validate the hypothesised model. Results: CFA shows a good fit of the data to the FertiQoL hierarchical model (chi-square/df = 1.989, CFI = 0.88, RMSEA = 0.055). After the deletion of 2 items, all FertiQoL scales have good internal consistency. SEM showed that the ART treatment phase was positively associated with fertility-related QoL scores both in the Relational (beta = 0.14, p < 0.05) and in the Tolerability (beta = 0.17, p < 0.05) subscales. Conclusion: All scales of the Italian FertiQoL version maintain good psychometric characteristics; Tolerability and Relational subscales are sensitive to the treatment stage and thus providing relevant information for the medical staff.