The effect of expressive writing intervention (EWI) on depression, stress, anxiety and quality of life of infertile women

Determining the effect of written expression on depression, stress, anxiety and quality of life of infertile women

Clinical trial with control group, with parallel groups, double-blind, randomized

Participants will complete the demographic information questionnaire, DASS-21 and World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire on the first day of menstruation at the Milad infertility center. In the second week and at the time of the start of the Don Regulation, the participants have to do daily written assignments. Three weeks after the last writing session, participants will complete the DASS-21 questionnaire. Finally, 6 weeks after completing the intervention (in the 8th week after starting the treatment) and before the pregnancy test, the participants will complete the DASS-21 questionnaire and the quality of life.

Inclusion criteria: having at least two years of infertility history, primary or secondary infertility for any reason, undergoing IVF or ICSI treatment, being Iranian and living in Mashhad, age range 18-40 years. Exclusion criteria: Having a previous mental illness, experiencing a stressful event in the last three months, suffering from depression, stress and severe anxiety, a candidate for genetic diagnosis before implantation, a candidate for using donation methods, participating in a similar study in a previous IVF cycle, addiction to Tobacco and alcohol

The intervention method consists of three 20-minute written assignments that are carried out in a 3-days period. The intervention group writes about involuntary childlessness and infertility treatment, and the control group writes about their daily activities.

Depression, stress, anxiety, quality of life

In order to randomly assign the samples to each of the 2 intervention and control groups, blocks of 4 variables are used. In this way, six possible states of blocks (BBAA, BABA, ABBA, BAAB, AABB, ABAB) are listed and a number from one to six is assigned to each block. Then randomly and through lottery, a number between one and six is selected and then people are assigned to the test (B) and control (A) groups based on the block corresponding to the selected number. This work continues until the sample volume is completed.

Both the intervention and control groups participate in a writing intervention, but they are not aware of the content of the written expression of the other group, and only the researchers themselves were aware of the content recommended for writing, and the participants and the data analyst were not.

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