title: Experimental emotional disclosure in women undergoing infertility treatment: Are drop outs better off?
abstract: So far, the beneficial effects of personal written emotional disclosure have been mainly examined in relation to past or current stressful/traumatic experiences. The anticipation of a medical event has rarely been studied within this paradigm. This randomized-controlled study examined whether written emotional disclosure would reduce emotional distress and increase pregnancy rates in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatment. Participants recruited from women who were undergoing IVF in the north of Greece (n=148) were randomized to an emotional-writing condition, a fact-writing condition and a control condition. Outcomes included fertility-related distress, general distress and a positive indication of pregnancy. Psychological and medical information about women who refused to participate were also collected, and this represented a fourth group for analysis (n=66). Results indicated no significant difference between groups in terms of emotional distress. However, a significant difference was observed with regard to pregnancy results, with the non-participants group reporting the highest percentage of pregnancies. The present study did not support the hypotheses that emotional disclosure will reduce infertility-related or general psychological distress and improve pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatment. However, women who refused to participate in the study were more likely to get pregnant. Differences in the beneficial effects of emotional disclosure are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. efharis@the.forthnet.gr
authors.forename: Efharis
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Panagopoulou
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.forename: Basil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tarlatzis
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000523:psychology*; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012650:Self Disclosure; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014956:Writing