JBRA Assisted Reproduction 2025;29(Suppl.2 SBRA 2025):256
Poster Presentation
29^th Annual Congress of the SBRA. São Paulo/SP - Brazil, 2025
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20263825

P-244.Why Psychological Support Is Important in Fertility Treatment: An Integrative Review

Sara Sprengel Schempf¹, Isabella Beatriz Pereira¹, Nabila Bassam Elias¹, Isabella Braggion Parra¹, Julia Roverso Correa Silveira¹, Luiz Carlos Santos Borges¹, Gabriel Monteiro Pinheiro¹

¹ Universidade Santo Amaro - São Paulo - Brasil

Objective: Infertility constitutes a gynecological condition of high global prevalence, affecting approximately 15% of couples of reproductive age, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. Beyond its biological implications, it is a condition with significant psychosocial impact, often marked by intense emotional distress, social stigma, and impaired quality of life, especially among women undergoing high-complexity reproductive interventions. In light of the growing emphasis on person-centered care and the humanization of health services, there is an imperative need for a broadened therapeutic approach that incorporates psychosocial interventions as essential components of reproductive healthcare. To critically evaluate, through an integrative review of recent scientific literature, the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in the context of female infertility treatment, with particular emphasis on their impact on reducing psychological distress, promoting mental health, and potentially improving reproductive clinical outcomes.
Methods: This is an integrative review of studies published between 2020 and 2025, indexed in the PubMed database. The search strategy used was ((Psychological Support) AND (Treatment)) AND (Fertility), yielding 93 articles. After applying rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria, based on methodological quality and thematic relevance, 8 original studies were selected, predominantly randomized clinical trials and observational investigations with robust designs, and critically analyzed regarding their methodological consistency and scientific rigor.
Results: The evidence consistently supports the efficacy of various psychosocial interventions, including structured self-compassion programs, fertility coaching, mind-body therapies, and traditional psychological counseling, in reducing clinical indicators of emotional distress, such as perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Additional findings point to improvements in perceived self-efficacy, therapeutic adherence, and adaptive coping mechanisms. Digital interventions demonstrated effectiveness comparable to face-to-face modalities. Although one study did not report statistically significant differences in quality-of-life outcomes, the overall body of evidence underscores the clinical relevance of these strategies. Furthermore, the reviewed literature highlights a high prevalence of mental health disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and intimate partner violence among infertile couples, reinforcing the urgent need for culturally sensitive and integrative psychosocial approaches in infertility care protocols.
Conclusion: Infertility is a medically complex condition with profound biopsychosocial repercussions that extend beyond conventional biomedical paradigms. The critical appraisal of the literature provides substantial evidence that psychosocial interventions represent therapeutically valuable tools with significant clinical and prognostic relevance. These interventions can mitigate emotional suffering, foster subjective resilience, and potentially optimize outcomes in assisted reproductive treatments. The systematic integration of such strategies into fertility care protocols emerges as an evidence-based recommendation and an ethical-assistential imperative aligned with international guidelines for humanized, comprehensive, and person-centered reproductive healthcare.