Psychological stress and affective self-efficacy beliefs among women with endometriosis

Endometriosis (the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus) is a chronic disease associated with pelvic pain and subfertility that significantly affects women's quality of life world-wide. Methods. Perceived self-efficacy in managing negative and in expressing positive affect scales and Stress Psychological Measure were administered to 79 women suffering from mild endometriosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's correlations were run for statistical evaluation. Results. Data showed that psychological stress and affective self-efficacy beliefs were negatively associated. Women with deep infiltrating endometriosis scored higher on psychological stress measure and lower on affective self-efficacy scales than woman with mild endometriosis. Conclusions. Endometriosis has a negative impact on quality of life of women, especially when infiltration penetrates > 5 mm under the anatomical pelvic structures, causing side effects. Further research is needed to better explore the psychological mechanisms involved in this disease and in its subtypes.