| Objectives: 1. To investigate the psychosocial characteristics of infertile women including fertility viewpoints, personality, social supports, coping styles and emotions and analysis correlative factors of their emotions. 2. To investigate the emotional characteristics of in vitro fertilization (IVF) women at different stages and the effects on the outcome of IVF.METHODS: Study group: About 217 infertile women receiving assisted reproduction technology treatment completed the demographic items and Fertility Problem Inventory designed by ourselves, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire(EPQ), Coping Style Questionnaire (CSQ), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Self—Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) before entering the treatment. According to the causes of infertility, they were divided into three groups: the female indication, the male indication, and both indication. Compared the psychosocial variables among different groups and analysis correlative Factors of their emotions. Then among the total, about 120 women who would receive IVF used Self—Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS) and Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) to assess their anxiety and depression affect at 5 occasions consecutively, the day on the down-regulation (T1), the day on HCG injection(T2), the day before ET(T3), 14 days after ET(T4). They were separated into two groups: pregnant group and non-pregnant group, compared the scores of SAS and BDI at different stages among different groups. Control group: 52 fertile women answered demographic items and Fertility Problem Inventory, EPQ, CSQ, SSRS, SAS, BDI as a control group.Results: 1. Infertile women usually perceived assisted reproduction technology as their last chance of childbearing. A proportion of them still had traditional concept about fertility. 2. Anxiety was greater in the infertile women than the controls, depression was greater in the female indication group than the other women. Personalities of female indication women were prone to adamancy, mistrust, introversion and instability of emotions. Personalities of male and both indication women were as same as the controls. All the infertile women obtained less social support than the fertile women. The female indication women were more self-condemned and fanciful, less asked for help. The male indication were less likely to avoid difficulties and rationalize than the controls. 3. According to multiple linear regression analysis, the variables impacting on anxiety are neuroticism, financial stress, the coping style of resolving, years of education, psychoticisim, the coping style of asking for help; the variables impacting on depression are self-condemned, financial stress, neuroticism, the coping style of asking for help, being fanciful and psychoticisim. 4. From the longitudinal investigation of IVF women, at T1,T2,T4, the anxiety was greater in IVF women than the controls, at T1, depression was also greater in IVF women, but at T4, depression was the same in both pregnant group and control group, significantly greater in non-pregnant group. At T1,T2,T3, no differences were found between pregnant group and non-pregnant group of anxiety and depression; At T4, anxiety and depression were significantly greater in non-pregnant group than pregnant group.Conclusion: 1. Infertile women suffered more psychosocial stress than fertile women, and the female indication women suffered most. 2. Psychological stress was impacted by many factors such as personality, coping style, social support, financial condition, educational years and so on. 3. IVF women suffered different stressors at different stages of treatment, so specific psychological interventions can be offered at different stages. 4. We found no evidence that psychological stress had any influence on the outcome of IVF treatment, but women showed an increase of both anxiety and depression immediately after predicting unsuccessful outcome. |
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