Are there preferred coping and communication strategies while undergoing IVF, and do cognitive behavioral interventions help?

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-04-2018-0022
Pages20-32
Published date14 January 2019
Date14 January 2019
AuthorJohanna Czamanski-Cohen,Orly Sarid,Julie Cwikel,Eliahu Levitas,Iris Har-Vardi
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Mental health,Mental health education
Are there preferred coping and
communication strategies while
undergoing IVF, and do cognitive
behavioral interventions help?
Johanna Czamanski-Cohen, Orly Sarid, Julie Cwikel, Eliahu Levitas and Iris Har-Vardi
Abstract
Purpose Coping and communication strategies affect how one perceives potentially stressful life events,
such as infertility. Cognitive behavioral interventions (CBI) can reduce the distress related to undergoing in
vitro fertilization (IVF). The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of CBI on the coping and
communication skills as well as perceived stress and depressive symptoms of women undergoing IVF
treatment. The authors also explored the relationship between coping strategies and pregnancy rates.
Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial of CBI in 50
women undergoing IVF (NCT00685282).
Findings The authors found that CBI was associated with reductions in active-confrontive coping among
over 50 percent of participants, which was also found to be positively related to depressive symptoms.
Furthermore, high meaning-based coping at baseline and high-avoidant coping at the end of IVF treatment
were associated with increased pregnancy rates.
Research limitations/implications CBI can be helpful in reducing the perceived stress of women
undergoing IVF; however, the adaptiveness of individual coping skills and communication skills vary. Since
different coping strategies seem to be of benefit at different time points, further studies might benefit from the
examination of engaging in context-dependent coping strategies.
Practical implications Integrating mental health care on infertility units may assist in reducing the stress
and thus quality of care in women undergoing IVF. Mental health care can be tailored to meet the individual
needs of infertility patients based on their preferred coping strategies and communication style. Further
research is needed to examine the cost benefit of reducing perceived stress in fertility patients.
Social implications Infertility is a social and medical problem that has vast implications on the mental
health of individuals. Providing support along with practical tools for stress reduction and improved coping
and communication can result in reduced stress and improved coping.
Originality/value This paper examined the effect of a cognitive behavioral intervention on the coping
strategies and communication skills of women undergoing IVF and can contribute to our understanding of the
value of integrating mental health and medical care.
Keywords Coping, Infertility, Cognitive behavioural interventions
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Infertility affects the physical and mental health of several million women and men worldwide
(Boivin et al., 2007) and is considered a stressful life event (Cesta et al., 2018). In vitro
fertilization (I VF) is an invasive, las t resource treatment for infer tility which can also be cause fo r
stress. In Israel, the government funds IVF treatment for women until two live births have been
achieved. In 2017, 42,000 IVF cycles were performed (Ministry of Health, 2017). Personal
beliefs, cognitio ns and coping skills me diate the response to potentially stre ssful events
(Derogatis and Coons, 1993; Elliot et al., 2011). Thus, stress reduction for fertility patients by
Received 16 April 2018
Revised 13 July 2018
Accepted 7 November 2018
© Johanna Czamanski-Cohen,
Orly Sarid, Julie Cwikel, Eliahu
Levitas and Iris Har-Vardi.
Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published
under the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Anyone may reproduce, distribute,
translate and create derivative
works of this article (for both
commercial & non-commercial
purposes), subject to full attribution
to the original publication and
authors. The full terms of this
licence may be seen at http://
creativecommons.org/licences/by/
4.0/legalcode
(Information about the authors
can be found at the end of
this article.)
PAGE20
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THE JOURNAL OF MENTALHEALTH TRAINING, EDUCATION AND PRACTICE
j
VOL. 14 NO. 1 2019, pp.20-32, Emerald PublishingLimited, ISSN 1755-6228 DOI 10.1108/JMHTEP-04-2018-0022

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