Looking at Infertility Treatment through The Lens of The Meaning of Life: The Effect of Group Logotherapy on Psychological Distress in Infertile Women

Abstract

Background: Women in particular suffer from psychological stress when diagnosed with infertility.Psychosocial interventions are known to not only prevent and lessen various mental problems,but also to play a positive role in physical health and pregnancy rates. The aim of this study isto determine the unique impact of spiritual psychotherapy on concerns about infertility and theirperceived psychological stresses.Materials and Methods: This study was a randomized clinical trial. The study population includednearly 800 infertile couples who attended the Maternity and Gynecology Clinic of Jahrom Universityof Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran. We enrolled65 people who were randomly divided into twogroups, experimental (n=33)and control (n=32). The experimental group received spiritual grouppsychotherapy counseling for 12 sessions, 2 hours per week for a 3 months period. The controlgroup did not receive any intervention, but due to ethical considerations, we gave a presentation (onesession) about infertility treatment for this group after the research process was completed. We usedtwo questionnaires to obtain data, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and Perceived StressScale (PSS). Data analysis was done by descriptive and analytic statistics using SPSS 16 software.Results: Psychological intervention in the treatment group significantly decreased the PSWQ(p=0.004). There were significant differences in the mean score of the PSWQ in both groups asdetermined by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA; p=0.009). Psychological intervention in thetreatment group decreased the level of perceived stress, when compared with the control group.According to ANCOVA there were significant differences between the mean PSS scores of bothgroups (p=0.01).Conclusion: Logotherapy is related to stress reduction and can decrease psychiatric symptomsof worry and perceived stress. This approach tends to improve an infertile person's ability todeal with their problem of finding the meaning of life. Thus it can be concluded that logotherapyalong with other treatment methods, is a useful approach for infertile couples (RegistrationNumber:IRCT201108247407N2).