Counseling during IVF reduced anxiety, while other emotional outcomes were mixed
A randomized trial tested counseling alongside fertility treatment. Anxiety improved more than with routine care, while depression and marital stress showed no statistically significant improvement.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Women assigned to counseling had a greater anxiety reduction after the program than those receiving routine care. Some distress and quality-of-life measures also improved. Results were mixed: depression and marital stress did not show statistically significant improvement. Those findings leave uncertainty about benefits across the different emotional outcomes assessed.
The trial lost 24.1% of participants to follow-up. The abstract also describes treatment tolerance as unchanged despite a statistically significant p-value, making that result difficult to interpret.
What researchers found
Post-program anxiety change
The difference in anxiety change was -0.72 standard deviations, favoring counseling over routine care after the program. These units reflect score variability; longer-term follow-up was unspecified.
A combined intervention
Counseling included coping techniques and breathing exercises as part of the same program. Because the components were delivered together, this abstract cannot establish which particular element contributed to the anxiety result.
A separate fertility measure
Positive hCG tests after IVF were more frequent in the counseling group. That laboratory result does not establish a benefit for live births, an outcome the abstract does not report.
The original publication
Emotional freedom techniques-based counseling with breathing exercises in in vitro fertilization: effects on psychological distress and well-being.
Coşkun M, Aslan E
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41418369
- Record checked
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