The Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique on Stress and Resilience of Infertile Women

People with high resilience can easily tolerate pain and have less stress. This study aims to investigate the effect of the emotional freedom technique (EFT) on the stress and resilience of infertile women.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted from February to August 2023 on 98 women with infertility problems referred to two public and private clinics in Bandar Abbas, South of Iran. They were randomly allocated into two intervention and control groups on a 1:1 basis. Participants in the intervention group received the EFT at 4 training sessions with a 1-week interval. A sociodemographic form, Newton’s fertility problem inventory (FPI), and the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) were completed before and after the intervention. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software, version 16 and independent and paired t-tests were used.

The mean score of FPI before and after the intervention were 168.06±34.06 and 134.59±26.02 in the intervention group, and 155.26±31.08 and 156.83±31.28 in the control group, respectively. After the intervention, the FPI score in the intervention group was significantly lower (P<0.001). The mean CD-RISC score before and after the intervention was 26.64±20.13 and 82.97±9.63 in the intervention group and 83.71±30.33 and 71.04±12.95 in the control group, respectively, indicating a significant increase in the resilience of the intervention group compared to the control (P<0.001). 

The EFT can reduce the stress of infertile women and increase their resilience. This cost-effective, safe, and easy method can be recommended by the medical staff to infertile women for better resilience and stress reduction.