A study on psychological strain in IVF patients

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to compare average stress levels in infertile women to fertile women, to determine the stress levels whethe r the patients was pregnant or not pregnant, and to examine for a cross-sec tion of infertile patients in different stages of medical investigation for the infertility Methods: One hundred thirty-eight women receiving medical treatment for inf ertility attended the program. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) of perceived stress associated with th e infertility was the outcome measure. Results: Infertile women showed significant increases in trait anxiety and depressive symptoms than the fertile women. Anxiety and depression in the i n vitro fertilization (IVF)-failed women were significantly higher than the IVF-success women. According to the duration of infertility, STAI and BDI were moderately elevated in the first stage (< 3 pear). There was a trend o f a decreasing psychological stress with an advanced infertility duration. On depression scales, the intermediate and final duration of infertility pa tients showed less symptomatology than the first-stage patients. Contrary t o the expectation, demographic factors such as religion and husband coopera tion were not related to the experience of stress. Conclusions: We must pay an attention to the infertile patient, especially from the initial infertility workup. We recommend psychological counselling for IVF-failed patients.