Web-based treatment for infertility-related psychological distress

Abstract

Infertility has been associated with stigma and negative psychosocial functioning. However, only a small proportion of this population actually receives care. Fertility patients predominantly use the Internet for information gathering, social support, and assistance with decision-making; yet, available web resources are unreliable sources of mental health care. Web-based alternatives also have the potential to assist with intervention access difficulties and may be of significant lower cost. This study evaluated the efficacy of a web-based approach to providing a cognitive behavioral intervention with 31 infertile women seeking medical reproductive technologies. Following randomized assignment, participants using the web-based intervention were compared with those in a wait-list control condition on general and infertility-related psychological stress measures. Results were mixed regarding intervention efficacy. Significant declines in general stress were evidenced in the experimental group compared with a wait-list control group. However, website access did not result in statistically significant improvements on a measure of infertility-specific stress. These findings add to the literature on psychological interventions for women experiencing fertility problems. Moreover, despite the widespread use of the Internet by this population, the present study is one of the first to investigate the usefulness of the Internet to attenuate stress in this population. Preliminary results suggest general stress may be significantly reduced in infertile women using an online cognitive behavioral approach.

The Outcome of Postnatal Exercise on Depressed Women Six to 16 Weeks after Delivery in Sukabumi City, 2014: Pre and Post Intervention Study

“…In addition to pharmacological and psychological treatments, exercise is an effective treatment for depression, as indicated by results of study conducted among depressed women participated in intervention study which shows that exercise has a significant impact in lowering the depression [18,[33][34][35][36][37]. It is associated with an increased level of certain chemicals in the brain through brain neurotransmitter called endorphin which interacts with brain receptors to reduce pain, stabilizes body temperature and pacify feelings [38].…”

“…Post natal depression can be reduced by regular exercise such as walking, swimming, load exercise or jogging, which may create better mood [37,41]. It does not include high impact exercise such as running, jumping and aerobic exercise [42].…”

Perceptions of Infertility in Turkish Nursing Students

“…2,3 Because of the emotional problems infertility can cause in individual and marital relationships, some consider it to be more of a developmental crisis of individual and peer relationships, rather than a medical condition. [4][5][6] If married couples fail to have a child, they must deal with inadequacy, guilt, shame, and social stigma, as well as other negative emotions and the burden of not meeting societal expectations. 3,7,8 Studies show that infertile couples experience more conflict in marital relations, a decrease in harmony and satisfaction, and more concern about the survival of their marriage than do fertile couples.…”

Oncofertility in Canada: An Overview of Canadian Practice and Suggested Action Plan

“…In studies of non-cancer-related infertility distress, psychosocial interventions-including counselling, education programs, and even Web-based treatment 16,17 -have produced overall improvements in psychological parameters. In an analysis of 25 studies, Boivin et al showed decreased infertility-related distress with a psychosocial intervention 18 .…”