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

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Couple first consultation for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART); Gender differences; Marital state; Men age; Psychophysical well-being; Signs of depression.