A qualitative investigation of the experience of participation in Mindfulness-based Intervention for IVF-ET (MBII) with Chinese women undergoing first IVF-ET

Mindfulness improves the mental health of infertile women: A systematic review

Infertility in women causes mental health problems, the bad ones. Women with infertility need psychological treatment using mindfulness interventions. This study's purpose was to analyze mindfulness's effect on the mental health of women with infertility through a systematic review. The method used in this systematic review was by searching through the following databases; ProQuest database, Wiley Library, Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct, Sage Journal, Cochrane Library, and Cambridge Core from January 2011 to December 2021. Nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Results show that the use of mindfulness was found to be effective in reducing mental disorders in women with infertility. Nine articles that meet the criteria for inclusion. According to a study on the effects of mindfulness on infertile women, affect increasing mental health levels by reducing mental health disorder scores. Mindfulness has been proven to be an effective intervention for women undergoing infertility-related mental disorders such as stress, anxiety, and depression. However, different types of mindfulness-based interventions are used to target different mental health issues. For example, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) targets stress and anxiety while Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) targets depression. Additionally, specific mindfulness for example, for the midwifery profession can be developed to improve the quality and treatment outcomes of healthcare for women struggling with infertility problems.

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Emotional States of Women Undergoing Fertility Treatment: A Meta-Analysis

For many infertile women, their inability to fulfill their aspirations and match society's expectations of motherhood may lead to mental illness. They frequently select in vitro fertilization (IVF) to achieve their wish to have children. In vitro fertilization is actually a multi-dimensional stressor. There are numerous psychological methods to assist patients decrease stress, among which mindfulness-based intervention is a prominent one. However, the effectiveness of mindfulness intervention in this group remains debatable. Therefore, our research seeks to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness intervention in improving the emotional state of women undergoing in vitro fertilization by systematic review and meta-analysis, so as to provide a novel treatment plan for psychological therapy of this group. A meta-analysis was undertaken by scanning English databases PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, Web of science, etc. Among them, the retrieval period is from the foundation of the database until July 5, 2022. Two investigators examined the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and conducted meta-analysis using stata15.0 software. Six studies involving 964 infertile women were included. According to the meta-analysis, mindfulness was more effective than the control group in reducing anxiety, depression, and correlations in infertile women [standard mean difference, SMD = -0.31, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.56 to -0.06], [SMD = -0.94, 95% CI: -1.84 to -0.03], [r = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.25-0.52]. In terms of mindfulness and self-compassion, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups [SMD = 0.73, 95% CI: -0.38 to -1.85], [SMD = 0.09, 95% CI: -0.19 to -0.37]. As an intervention strategy for infertile women with anxiety and despair, mindfulness intervention might be a treatment priority.

Risk factors of pregnancy failure in elderly infertility patients undergoing human assisted reproductive technology

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the risk factors of pregnancy failure in elderly infertile patients undergoing human assisted reproductive technology (ART).

METHODS

A total of 565 infertile patients undergoing ART were selected and divided into failed pregnancy group (127 cases) and continued pregnancy group (438 cases). Their clinical data were collected, and the influencing factors of pregnancy failure were assessed and compared by univariate and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

The success and failure rates of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in pregnant women were 79.44% and 20.56%, while those of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were 75.96% and 24.04%, respectively. There was no remarkable difference between them (all P>0.05). Women's age, numbers of embryos transferred and previous abortion history in the failed pregnancy group were higher than those in the continued pregnancy group, while the number of high-quality embryos, BMI and endometrial thickness (EMT) on human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) day in the former were lower (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The risk factors of ART pregnancy failure in elderly infertility patients are related to woman's age, numbers of embryos transferred, previous pregnancy abortion history, numbers of high-quality embryos and EMT on hCG day.

Effects of a short-term mindfulness-based stress reduction program on the quality of life of women with infertility: A randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Although some programs based on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) have been suggested to promote quality of life (QoL) in different conditions, limited studies have addressed their potential effects in women with infertility. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of an MBSR program on the QoL of women with infertility.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 36 women with infertility, who were selected by consecutive sampling from the Infertility Center of Ahvaz Imam Khomeini Hospital, Iran. Women either participated in the MBSR program or received routine consultation in eight two-hour group sessions once a week. Women's QoL was measured using the 36-item short-form health survey before, immediately after, and one month after the intervention. The intention-to-treat analysis, with multiple imputation for missing data, was also performed.

RESULTS

The mean changes in the total score of QoL and its subscales (except for "social functioning" and "bodily pain") were significant compared to the baseline both at immediately after and one month after the intervention in favor of the experimental group (P<0.001 in most cases). Twenty four and six adverse events were recorded in the experimental and control groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Short-term MBSR program seem to be potentially effective in improving the QoL of women with infertility. Further studies are needed to determine the generalizability of our findings.