Influence of treatment outcome on the quality of life of the childless couple participating in in-vitro fertilization programs

Infertility can lead to a severe life-crisis for couples, especially if thi s experience persists for a long time. As a consequence several experiences of life may be affected, e.g. it comes to sexual problems, marital dissati sfaction, feelings of inferiority and guilty or emotional disturbances. Man y people refer to medical treatment for in-vitro-fetilization (IVF) as a la st chance to get pregnant. It has been shown that couples experience not on ly their childlessness as a great burden, but also the medical treatment it self can be stress. The outcome of the treatment plays therefore an importa nt role. Unfortunately there are few studies, which focus on the quality of life of infertile couples in a longitudinal design. Our study includes 144 infertile couples at intake and 1 year after in-vitro-fertilization. Quali ty of life was assessed by a questionnaire for men and woman pre and post-t reatment. The effect of the treatment outcome (life birth of a child, no pr egnancy, miscarriage) was examined for the couple in respect to their life satisfaction.