Does Emotional Support Decrease In Vitro Fertilization Stress?

Mass General Brigham

Status: Completed

Conditions: In Vitro Fertilization; Psychological Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: Phone calls

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01406028

2009p-001214

Details and patient eligibility

About

In vitro fertilization for infertility has been associated with a significant amount of treatment related stress for patients. In addition,stress levels increase between embryo transfer and pregnancy test, during this waiting period. The investigators evaluated whether or not brief interventions by phone by trained social workers influenced stress levels. Our data showed that these interventions did not change levels, but confirmed that stress did increase during this time and that patients report wanting additional emotional support to improve stress during this period.

Enrollment: 131 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All women (ages 18-45) undergoing their first fresh cycle of IVF using autologous oocytes where an embryo transfer occurred

Exclusion criteria

• > 2nd cycle of IVF IVF using donor eggs or a gestational carrier
• Transfers with Cryopreserved embryos
• Day 5 embryo transfers
• Self-reported history of depression or anxiety
• Already seeing a mental health professional
• Inability to speak or read English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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131 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard of Care

No Intervention group

Description:

Standard of care includes discharge instructions from one of our IVF nurses regarding medications and timing of follow-up, at which point patients are told what day they need to return for their pregnancy test. Patients have access to phone numbers for their IVF nurses and physicians, as well as information about how to contact the social workers if additional support is needed. They also are provided the emergency phone numbers for after-hour calls to the fellow on call. However, during the time between the embryo transfer and the pregnancy test, the current standard of care is that contact between the patient and our team is patient-initiated.

Intervention phone calls

Active Comparator group

Description:

The intervention consisted of two phone calls from an IVF social worker during the time between embryo transfer and pregnancy test. The first phone call occurred between days 2-4 after transfer and the second phone call occurred between days 5 and 9 after embryo transfer. Standard language for introductions to phone calls and for voice mails was established prior to the start of the study.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Phone calls