The effects of psychological interventions on quality of life in infertile women: a systematic review

Background: Psychological interventions seem to increase quality of life in infertile women. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the effects of psychological interventions on quality of life in infertile women.Methods: The databases of PubMed,Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Scopus, Cochrane, Google Scholar and Persian databases including SID, Iran Medex, and Magiran using equivalent keywords were searched until 26 march 2018 to identify relevant articles. Included studies were trials on infertile women receiving psychological interventions independent of actual medical treatment. The outcome measure was quality of life. Out of 1476 relevant published trials, a total of eleven RCTs were ultimately reviewed systematically.Results: Eleven RCTs involving 743 infertile women were included in the study. The findings from RCTs indicated significant positive effect of psychological interventions on quality of life except partnership support program and group positive psychotherapy.Conclusion: This review findings indicate that infertile couples and especially female partners experience considerable psychological distress after diagnosis of their condition and throughout the infertility treatment process that could affect their quality of life. The results of this review of psychological interventions for women suffering from infertility indicate their overall efficacy with respect to their quality of life.Message for policymakers: Psychological interventions are beneficial for infertile patients to improve their quality of life. Psychological interventions should be integrated in the treatment of infertility as the present review indicates that psychological interventions are effective on quality of life in infertile women.

Keywords:

psychological interventions , quality of life , infertility , infertile