The Effect of Stress Management Based on Group Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy on Marital Satisfaction in Infertile Women

Introduction: In the developed world, infertility is on rise and has become a social concern. This is considered as a serious stress in life and exerts a severe psychological impact on the couple. Aim: This study was conducted to study the efficacy of stress management based on group cognitive-behavioural therapy on marital satisfaction in infertile women. Materials and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-post-test design and control group. The study sample consisted of 40 infertile women enrolled based on convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups: experimental and control, of 20 each. Then, the experimental group underwent 10 two-hour stress management sessions per cognitive-behavioural therapy. The instruments used in this study were marital satisfaction inventory ENRICH and a checklist of demographic characteristics. Immediately and three months after completion of the intervention, the instruments were administered to the participants. The data was analysed by analysis of covariance in SPSS 18. Results: There was a significant difference in marital satisfaction between the experimental and control groups in both post-test (p=0.001) and follow-up (p=0.001). Conclusion: The stress management based on cognitive-behavioural therapy could contribute to increasing marital satisfaction in infertile women. The effect could remain stable three months after the last interventions (follow-up).