Self-reported psychosocial factors among in vitro fertilization patients interviewed alone or with the partner

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics reported by female in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients interviewed alone or with the partner in heterosexual couples. During 12 months (2011–2012), all patients undergoing IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection at one public reproductive medicine unit, in Portugal, were interviewed on the day of the diagnosis of pregnancy, being recruited 221 women interviewed with the partner and 92 interviewed alone. Interviewers collected data on sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics; and anxiety, depression, social support and partner relationship were collected by self-administered questionnaires. χ² test was used to assess the independent association between the categorical variables and being interviewed alone or with the partner. For continuous variables, mean or median differences were compared by the t-test or the Mann–Whitney test, according to data distribution. No statistically significant differences were found in the self-reporting of depression, anxiety, social support and partner relationship or in sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics between women interviewed alone or with the partner. Although women interviewed alone were older and more frequently had children than women interviewed with the partner, no significant associations were observed. Thus, having a male partner present in the research setting during a self-administered questionnaire seems not to influence women’s responses to psychosocial measures. Other outcomes and settings need to be evaluated to support evidence-based guidelines for research on infertility.

Keywords:

• Infertility
• self report
• in vitro fertilization
• psychosocial factors
• data collection

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff of the reproductive medicine unit for the collaboration and support, and all the patients who participated.

Funding

This work was supported by the FEDER by the Operational Programme Factors of Competitiveness – COMPETE and the national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science) [FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014453], and the grants [IF/00956/2013] (to SS), [IF/00829/2013] (to HM), [SFRH/BPD/103562/2014] (to EA), [SFRH/BD/75807/2011] (to CS).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.