Grant: Project Grant

Infertility is a growing public health issue, affecting 12% to 16% of Canadian couples. Although medically assisted reproduction (MAR) now allows more couples to become parents, treatment has limited success rates and can disrupt both partners' psychological, relationship, and sexual well-being. Studies have shown that group-based psychological interventions significantly reduce depression and anxiety, and improve quality of life. However, prior studies are limited by focusing solely on women, neglecting their partners, as well as sexual and gender-diverse couples. Moreover, although infertility and MAR impact the couple and negatively affect sexuality, most group interventions have failed to address relationship and sexual issues related to infertility. Therefore, psychological interventions targeting both partners and all types of couples, and addressing relational and sexual issues in addition to the psychological burden of treatment, are crucial. This approach aims to better address these couples' psychological needs, reduce their stress and the likelihood of treatment dropout, and ultimately improve their chances of pregnancy. The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to test the efficacy of a novel group intervention for couples undergoing MAR. The intervention aims to improve both partners' infertility-related emotional and relationship quality of life, as well as their psychological, relational, and sexual adjustment, treatment tolerability, and rates of discontinuation and pregnancy. The findings from this study may enhance the quality of life for numerous Canadians dealing with the stress of MAR by providing a rigorous test of the efficacy of this novel, targeted couple intervention.