title: Stress and marital satisfaction among women before and after their first cycle of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine differences in emotional status (anxiety and depression) and marital satisfaction in pregnant and nonpregnant women before and after their first cycle of IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Repeated measurement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fertility department at a university and a regional hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women entering their first treatment cycle of IVF or ICSI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires on psychological factors were administered 3 to 12 days before the start of their first treatment cycle and repeated 3 weeks after the pregnancy test.
  
  
  METHODS
  State anxiety, depression, mood, and marital satisfaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At pretreatment, the women who became pregnant showed lower levels of depression than those who did not. Higher levels of depression in the pregnant women after the first cycle were due to higher scores on vital aspects of depression, related to signs of early pregnancy. Higher levels of depression in the nonpregnant women were due to a higher score on cognitive aspects of depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differences in emotional status between pregnant and nonpregnant women were present before treatment and became more apparent after the first IVF and ICSI cycle. There were no differences in emotional status between the women who underwent IVF and those who underwent ICSI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. c.verhaak@cksmps.azn.nl
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Verhaak
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Smeenk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eugster
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Minnen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kremer
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Kraaimaat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001007:Anxiety; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017211:Treatment Failure