Effect of meditation, muscle relaxation exercises, dietary and lifestyle modification on depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem among women undergoing infertility treatment: A randomized controlled trial: Pilot protocol.

A randomized controlled trial in India tested whether meditation, exercise, diet, and lifestyle changes could reduce emotional distress in infertile women. Sixty women were assigned to either an experimental group receiving these interventions or a control group receiving routine care. After five sessions, the experimental group showed marked improvements: depression scores dropped from an average of 16.13 to 9.07, anxiety from 18.93 to 10.73, stress from 29.27 to 18.4, and self-esteem rose from 10.47 to 17.5. The differences between groups were statistically significant. These complementary therapies may help lessen emotional distress and potentially improve pregnancy rates, suggesting infertility care should include emotional support alongside medical treatment.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Infertility is not only a reproductive health problem; it's also emotionally painful. Currently, treatments for infertility are receiving more attention, but emotional support is equally important. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of meditation, exercises, dietary, and life-style modifications on depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem among infertile women. This randomized controlled trial was carried out on randomly assigned 60 infertile women (30 experimental and 30 control groups) with the above-mentioned distress at the Infertility Clinic of a tertiary-level hospital in India during the period from 01.07.2020 to 30.6.2021. Infertile women were enrolled using a systematic random sampling technique. The pretest was done with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Interventions were operated on an experimental group for five subsequent visits for 60 minutes and the control group received routine care. A post-test was done on sixth visit. The pretest mean score of infertile women was 16.13 ± 4.95 for depression, 18.93 ± 4.26 for anxiety, 29.27 ± 4.59 for stress and 10.47 ± 3.49 for self-esteem, respectively. The post-test mean score was 9.07 ± 3.14 for depression, 10.73 ± 3.17 for anxiety, 18.4 ± 3.77 for stress, and 17.5 ± 1.96 for self-esteem. The study results showed the post-test mean score was significantly different in the experimental and control groups at P < 0.001. These complementary therapies could potentially lessen the emotional distress experienced by infertile women and boost pregnancy rates. So, infertility management should be comprehensive instead of only using medical treatment to get a better outcome.