Differences in psychophysical well-being and signs of depression in couples undergoing their first consultation for assisted reproduction technology (ART): an Italian pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The data we refer to belong to a longitudinal research project starting at the first contact of individual couples with the Infertility Unity; they were then followed-up till pregnancy or failure of treatments. The study aims at investigating in depth the emotional state of patients admitted for first consultation. Specifically, we investigated the emotional state of the two members of an infertile couple, considering also their biomedical and socio-demographic characteristics. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study evaluating a consecutive series of 309 couples, consulting for the first time our Infertility Unit for a multidisciplinary diagnostic evaluation in relation to their infertility. The multidisciplinary equip is composed of a gynaecologist, an andrologist and a clinical psychologist. Two standardized instruments were administered by the clinical psychologist to the two members of the couple: the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) and the General Health Questionnaire-form 12 (GHQ-12), for screening of non-somatic signs of depression and psychophysical well-being, respectively. Couples were eligible for the study if they had not received any prior ART treatment in our Unit and were able to read and understand Italian. In addition, they had to agree to provide informed consent for the study. RESULTS: We obtained a response in 62% of all eligible couples. There were two major unexpected findings: CONCLUSION: Psychological and counselling services dedicated to ART should consider also socio-demographic data and always specifically consider gender differences, not only a couple's psychology and its dynamics.

Hatha-yoga as a psychological adjuvant for women undergoing IVF: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the influence of Hatha-yoga (HY) practice on distress of women before starting their first in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. STUDY DESIGN: We offered 143 consecutive women with couple infertility the opportunity to attend a free HY course lasting 3 months as a psychological support before starting their first IVF cycle. All women were asked to complete the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y1 (STAY-Y1), Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) at baseline (T1) and after 3 months (T2), to evaluate symptoms of anxiety, depression and distress, respectively. RESULTS: Of the 143 women, 120 completed all three questionnaires. Of these, 45 attended the HY course and 75 did not. At T1, EDS and GHQ-12 scores were significantly higher in the HY group than in the non-HY group. There were no group differences in STAI-Y1 scores. At T2 there were no group differences. When, in each group, the score of each questionnaire at T1 was compared to the score at T2, a significant T1 to T2 reduction was observed in the HY group (p<0.0001 for STAY-Y1 and GHQ-12, p<0.001 for EDS). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that women who are more distressed are more likely to accept psychological support before starting an IVF cycle and that in these women HY practice is associated with distress reduction.