Effectiveness of Counseling for Infertile Couples on Women's Emotional Disturbance: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Objective The psychosocial burden of infertility among couples can be one of the most important reasons for women's emotional disturbance. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of counseling on different emotional aspects of infertile women.

Methods The present randomized clinical trial was performed on 60 couples with primary infertility who were referred for treatment for the first time and did not receive psychiatric or psychological treatment. Samples were allocated to an intervention group (30 couples) and a control group (30 couples) by simple randomization. The intervention group received infertility counseling for 6 45-minute sessions twice a week, and the control group received routine care. The Screening on Distress in Fertility Treatment (SCREENIVF) questionnaire was completed before and after the intervention. Samples were collected from November to December 2016 for 3 months. For the data analysis, we used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, United States) software, version 19.0, and the paired t-test, the independent t-test, the Mann-Whitney test, the Wilcoxon test, and the Chi-squared test.

Results The mean age of the participants was 33.39 ± 5.67 years. All studied couples had primary infertility and no children. The mean duration of the couples' infertility was 3 years. There was a significant difference regarding depression (1.55 ± 1.92; p < 0.0001), social support (15.73 ± 3.41; p < 0.0001), and cognitions regarding domains of fertility problems (26.48 ± 3.05; p = 0.001) between the 2 groups after the intervention, but there was no significant difference regarding anxiety (25.03 ± 3.09; p = 0.35).

Conclusion The findings showed that infertility counseling did not affect the total score of infertile women' emotional status, but improved the domains of it except, anxiety.

Resumo

Objetivo A carga psicossocial da infertilidade entre casais pode ser uma das razões mais importantes para os distúrbios emocionais em mulheres. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar o efeito do aconselhamento em diferentes aspectos emocionais de mulheres inférteis.

Métodos Este ensaio clínico randomizado foi realizado com 60 casais com infertilidade primária indicados para tratamento pela primeira vez mas que não receberam tratamento psiquiátrico ou psicológico. As amostras foram alocadas em um grupo de intervenção (30 casais) e um grupo de controle (30 casais) por randomização simples. O grupo de intervenção recebeu aconselhamento sobre infertilidade por 6 sessões de 45 minutos 2 vezes por semana e o grupo controle recebeu cuidados de rotina. O questionário de Triagem por Aflição no Tratamento da Infertilidade (Screening on Distress in Fertility Treatment SCREENIVF em inglês) foi preenchido antes e após a intervenção. As amostras foram coletadas de novembro a dezembro de 2016 durante 3 meses. Para a análise dos dados usamos o programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows IBM Corp. Armonk NY Estados Unidos) versão 19.0 e os testes-t pareado e independente e os testes de Mann-Whitney de Wilcoxon e do qui quadrado.

Resultados A média de idade dos participantes foi de 33 39 ± 5 67 anos. Todos os casais estudados tinham infertilidade primária e não tinham filhos. A duração média da infertilidade dos casais era de 3 anos. Houve diferença significativa quanto à depressão (1 55 ± 1 92; p < 0 0001) ao apoio social (15 73 ± 3 41; p <0 0001) e às cognições em relação aos campos dos problemas de fertilidade (26 48 ± 3 05; p = 0 001) entre dois grupos após a intervenção mas não houve diferença significativa com relação à ansiedade (25 03 ± 3 09; p = 0 35).

Conclusão Os achados mostraram que o aconselhamento sobre infertilidade não afetou a pontuação total do estado emocional de mulheres inférteis mas melhorou seus campos exceto a ansiedade.

Keywords

infertility - emotion - social support - anxiety - depression - counselling

Palavras-chave

infertilidade - emoção - apoio social - ansiedade - depressão - aconselhamento

Contributions

All authors planned the study. Tayebeh Mokhtari Sorkhani participated in investigation, writing of the original draft, formal analysis, visualization. Katayoun Alidousti in conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing of the original draft, project administration, visualization. Atefeh Ahmadi in conceptualization, methodology, project administration, review and editing of the manuscript, visualization. Moghaddameh Mirzaee in formal analysis, visualization. Victoria Habibzadeh in verification, resources. All of the authors have approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 13. September 2020

Angenommen: 07. Juli 2021

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
06. Dezember 2021

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