The effectiveness of holistic-oriented psychological intervention on health psychology in infertile women undergoing IVF

The holistic-oriented psychological intervention is a new therapeutic approach (2015) that, for the first time in Iran, has been designed based on psychological problems and needs of Iranian infertile couples. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of holistic-oriented psychological intervention on depression, anxiety and stress symptomsof infertile women under IVF treatment.
The present research was a semi-experimental study with pretest, posttest and control group. Among the referred patients to Moatazedi Infertility Center of Kermanshah 30 infertile women undergoing IVF treatment selected using available sampling method. They were classified into experimental (n= 15) and control (n= 15) groups using random assignment. The experimental group was treated by holistic-oriented psychological intervention for 11 sessions. Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms of subjects were measured before and after treatment. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysisof covariance (MANCOVA).
Results showed that HPI affected significantly on mental health of infertile women and improved it. Significant difference of post-test average scores of experimental group than control group confirm the effectiveness of HPI on infertile women.
The holistic-oriented psychological intervention is effective in reducing anxiety, depression and stress symptoms of infertile women under In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment.